ESHOWE police were attacked by a mob while investigating an incident in Mkhiwane Street in the King Dinizulu suburb on Friday night.
While searching for housebreaking suspects, they were attacked by community members who shot at and assaulted them with bricks and robbed them of their service firearms.
One of the three officers managed to request backup during the attack and other police officers came to their rescue.
Three suspects were arrested and they were found in possession of unlicensed firearms with serial numbers filed off.
They were also injured during the shoot-out with the police. Two police officers were critically injured and taken to hospital.
The recovered firearms will be sent for ballistics testing to ascertain whether they were used in the commission of any other crime in the country.
One of the suspects was charged for attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
He appeared in the eShowe Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning, while his accomplices remain in the eShowe District Hospital under police guard.
‘We will make sure that these suspects face the full might of law. It is unacceptable that members of this community chose to protect criminals and turned on officers of the law instead,’ said Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Mmamonnye Ngobeni.
