A suspect linked to the killing of two Crime Intelligence officers in Mount Edgecombe has been shot dead during a police operation in Inanda.
Police say the suspect was killed during an exchange of gunfire on Friday morning.
A member of the South African Police Service’s Special Task Force was also shot and wounded during the operation.
The scene remains active, with crime scene investigators working to gather evidence. Senior police officials are also expected to visit the scene.
The two Crime Intelligence officers, Captain Louis Nel and Sergeant Mandla Khuzwayo, were ambushed along Flanders Drive in Mount Edgecombe in April.
Nel had recently joined Crime Intelligence after leaving the Special Task Force, where he had spent much of his policing career.
Just three weeks after taking up his new role, Nel and Khuzwayo were attacked by gunmen.
Nel was killed in the ambush, while Khuzwayo succumbed to his injuries several weeks later.
Police subsequently launched a manhunt for those responsible for the killings.
During Nel’s funeral, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi assured the officer’s family and colleagues that police would track down those responsible.
“I can give you assurance ... that we will find them, we will find them dead or alive, we will find them pretty soon,” Mkhwanazi said.
The latest operation in Inanda forms part of the ongoing investigation into the deaths of the two officers.
Police have yet to provide further details about the identity of the suspect killed in the shootout or the circumstances surrounding the operation.