Seven people were wounded during an attempted armed robbery in the Bedford Centre shopping mall, east of Johannesburg on Thursday. According to a South African Police Service spokesperson, the attempt took place at about 11.00.

A currently unknown number of suspects sought to rob people of cash which they had just withdrawn from a bank in the mall. The victims were descending an escalator inside the mall when the attempt was made. A shootout followed, in which two suspects, two security guards and three civilians were wounded. All are in a stable condition.

Two unlicensed firearms have been recovered by the police. One is an AK-47 assault rifle and the other a 9 mm pistol. It is not yet known if any of the robbers escaped with any of the cash. Bedford Centre houses, in its tower block, the offices of Creamer Media, publishers of Engineering News, Mining Weekly and Polity, among other titles.