Media reports say the shooting exercise, using live ammunition, took place at the SA Army's Combat Training Centre, at Lohatlha, in the Northern Cape, as part of an annual force preparation endeavour.

The Lohatlha Military Base's charred remains in Northern Cape which claimed the lives of soldiers stand as a poignant reminder of the sacrifice displayed on that fateful day.

The condemnation came after an Oryx helicopter was shot down in the North Kivu province; in which a surviving crew member wounded by gun fire safely landed the chopper at Goma Airport.