One in every of South Africa’s richest suburbs would be the goal of a terrorist assault, in response to an alert posted on the US Embassy’s web site.
“The US authorities has obtained info that terrorists could also be planning to conduct an assault concentrating on giant gatherings of individuals at an unspecified location within the better Sandton space” in Johannesburg this weekend, the embassy mentioned within the assertion. “There isn’t any additional info relating to the timing, methodology, or goal of the potential assault.”
The embassy has suggested its employees to keep away from crowds of individuals and different giant public gatherings within the space over the approaching weekend. Whereas South Africa has excessive ranges of crime, Johannesburg — the nation’s largest metropolis and monetary hub — hasn’t skilled a mass assault in a long time.
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo referred queries to police ministry spokeswoman Lirandzu Themba, who didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched by textual content message.
Islamic State has beforehand threatened to hold out assaults on South Africa for its involvement in a counter-insurgency operation in northeastern Mozambique, the place the Islamist militants have been finishing up assaults since 2017. The nation is amongst members of the Southern African Growth Neighborhood, a 16-member financial bloc, that deployed forces final 12 months to assist the Mozambican authorities quell the violence.
The alert didn’t give info on teams that could be concentrating on the realm.
Most of the largest corporations in South Africa, together with monetary providers group FirstRand, chemical compounds firm Sasol, insurer Discovery, Financial institution of America Corp, Citigroup, legislation companies and worldwide auditing companies corresponding to EY have their headquarters in Sandton.
The realm can be dwelling to quite a few malls and different retail areas, which attracts crowds of vacationers and locals on weekends.
Town’s LGBTQ neighborhood is planning its annual parade within the space on Saturday, in response to Johannesburg Delight’s Fb web page.
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