Five Gunned Down In Peka

(MENAFN- The Post) MASERU

FIVE people were gunned down in Peka Ha-Tsela, Leribe, in a suspected case of famo music gang violence a few days before Christmas.

The killing brings to 20 the number of people who have been killed in the area since January last year.

Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli (Pictured)confirmed the incident

“We are still investigating the case,” S/Supt Mopeli said.

He said the motive behind the killing will likely be clear once investigations by the Police are finished.

“It is difficult to tell the motive at this stage because we are still working hard to establish that,” he said.

Sources in the area said a handful of gun-toting men believed to be members of the Terene ea Khosi Mokata gang staying in Liphakoeng were tailing two men travelling in a red car to Ha-Tsela.

The two men who were being chased are believed to be members of a rival famo gang called Lekhotla la Liala Mabatha from nearby Fobane

Fobane has been the scene of violent clashes between the rival famo music gangs in recent months.

“It seems the fight started somewhere and ended here,” the source said.

The source said the Terene members were shooting at the car they were chasing.

The car stopped at a bar in Ha-Tsela and its driver alighted from it limping due to a serious gun wound on the leg.

“The person who was traveling with the injured man was found dead,” the source said

When these gun-wielding men arrived at the bar, they demanded money from the woman bartender.

During the pandemonium, her husband tried protecting her but the attackers shot them dead.

The attackers, the source said, accused the bar owner of hiding their enemy inside the bar.

The attackers, he said, opened fire randomly in the bar killing four people including the bar owner.

The man they were chasing had fled from the place

“A primary school teacher who was drinking in the bar was also shot dead,” the source said.

All in all, a total of five people were fatally shot while another sustained serious injury on the leg.

The people who were in the bar were from different villages in the Peka area.

The source said the car in which the two men were travelling in was torched near the bar.

While the car was enveloped by flames, a taxi driver from Maputsoe offered to put off the fire but the attackers fired some shots in the air to scare him away

Contacted for comment, the Terene ea Mokata leader Sarele Sello popularly known as Lehlanya, declined to comment.

“These famo gangs have been banned in the country,” Sello said.

“They have been officially disbanded,” he said.

Sello said he has a pending court case related to the banned famo gang groups and therefore could not comment.

“I cannot say anything,” he said

Majara Molupe

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