Soldier allegedly shoots and kills two colleagues

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Two South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers have been shot and killed, apparently by a fellow soldier, while on border protection duty.

SANDF Director: Corporate Communications, Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga, said Lieutenant Thabiso Ernest Seithati and Gunner Zakhe Nkanyiso Khumalo were killed in a shooting incident while travelling in a military vehicle between Fouriesburg military base and the Kromdraai temporary base in the eastern Free State. He did not release details of their units or whether they are full-time of Reserve Force members of the SANDF.

Afrikaans daily Beeld reported the bodies were found on a dirt road and both had been shot in the head. It also said a 24-year-old soldier had been arrested in connection with the incident.

According to local police, quoted by the newspaper, the three were on duty and en route to the temporary base on the farm Kromdraai as part of the border protection detail assigned to the Lesotho/South Africa border.

Police found the abandoned military vehicle as well as a military issue rifle and a mobile phone in the village of Lesoba in the Fouriesburg district. One suspect, apparently also a soldier deployed on border protection, was arrested on Sunday following the Friday shooting.

He faces two charges of murder.