At least 27 people have been killed in separate mass shooting incidents in South Africa’s Gauteng and Western Cape provinces overnight.
In the first incident, gunmen armed with assault rifles killed 17 people and wounded 15 others at a bar in Wedela township, west of Johannesburg, police said on Sunday.
Manhunt underway for 8 suspects in Wedela shooting
Gauteng police said they have launched a manhunt for eight unidentified armed men following the deadly shooting.
“They allegedly searched some patrons and took their cellphones before fleeing the scene in two unidentified motor vehicles,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) said.
Emergency services declared all 17 victims, 13 men and four women, dead at the scene. Authorities said the shooting occurred Saturday at around 9:30 p.m. local time (1930 UTC).
A motive for the shooting was not known, the SAPS said, adding that “suspects were reportedly armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols.”
10 killed in Lwandle tavern shooting, Cape Town
In a separate shooting in the Western Cape, police said gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 11 more at an entertainment venue in Lwandle township at 1:46 a.m. (2346 Saturday GMT).
Authorities said five of the victims died at the scene while another five succumbed to their injuries after being taken to hospital.
Police said no arrests have been made and that a “multi-disciplinary team” led by serious and violent crime detectives had been established to track down those responsible.
The latest incidents came just days after at least 11 people were gunned down at a home in KwaZulu-Natal Province.
That shooting occurred in KwaMakhutha, a township some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Durban, the eastern province’s largest city.
SA deploys troops as organized crime grips communities
Sense of ‘shock’ following Wedela shooting, says DW correspondent
DW correspondent Thuso Khumalo was at the scene in Wedela and said there was a definite of “shock” following the shooting.
“People are very worried here,” Khumalo said, pointing to the number of community members who were standing near the police cordon.
On the question of whether the victims had been specifically targeted, Khumalo said police suspected it was a retaliatory attack involving gangs.
“They are saying, one of the victims was already on their list, on their radar, the intelligence radar,” Khumalo said, adding that he was being investigated for a previous incident.
Wedela is situated in an area where there has been a security crackdown on illegal mining involving the deployment of police and soldiers.
“The criminals think it’s a fashion. They want to make it something which we need to get used to, but that cannot be allowed and tolerated,” said deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana.
South Africa’s high rate of violent crime
South Africa is grappling with violent crime and has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with around 60 people dying violently in the country each day.
In one of the stories that has made international headlines in recent days, Johannesburg police are still trying to track down those responsible for a spate of killings in which the bodies of 10 women have been found in close proximity to one another.
Police have identified similarities in some of the killings but said they had not found concrete evidence to suggest the same person or people were responsible.
In March, South Africa’s leadership deployed troops to hotspots to support police dealing with rampant criminality that President Cyril Ramaphosa has described as one of the biggest challenges facing the country at present.
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