Photo: International Rhino Foundation

Removing the horn of a rhino to make it less appealing to poachers.

Johannesburg — A policeman and a game ranger have been shot and killed in the Kruger National Park, police said on Sunday.

The policeman, accompanied by a soldier, was searching for rhino poachers in the park's southern Tshokwane section park at 9am on Saturday morning when they came under fire, police spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo said.

"The shooting resulted in the SAPS member being shot and killed. In return, the defence force member fatally wounded the shooter," said Naidoo.

"It emerged later that the shooter was in fact an on-duty SANParks game ranger."

An inquest docket was opened to determine the circumstances and cause of the incident.