Six inmates escaped after an armed gang ambushed the police truck they were travelling in en route to court, Gauteng police said on Friday.

Mandatory DNA samples will now be taken from offenders guilty of serious crimes, a move hailed as a “big step” towards solving and preventing crime, especially sexual offences.

Explosives of this nature were in the past found to have been used in ATM bombings.

The arrests were made after a shoot-out between the suspects, police and security guards.

A 16-year-old pupil from Daveyton in Ekurhuleni allegedly shot dead a classmate during an argument on the first day of school and then turned the gun on himself, the Gauteng department of education said on Thursday.

Preliminary investigations reveal that a man in possession of a rifle and a handgun arrived at the dump site entrance and, without a word, started shooting at security guards.

While part of the N1 in Gauteng is closed due to a sinkhole, there are another 41 craters dotted around Tshwane

A 35-year-old man accused of smashing the Vryburg magistrate’s court windows was arrested and made his first court appearance on Monday.

One suspect was shot and wounded and another arrested after an armed robbery at a surgery in Roosevelt Park in Johannesburg on Monday.

The victim had beads that are normally worn by traditional healers.