17 people killed in 2 mass shootings in same town in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG: Seventeen people including 15 women were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said Saturday.

A search was underway for the suspects, national police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe said in a statement. The victims were 15 women and two men, she said. One other person was in critical condition in the hospital.

The shootings took place Friday night in the town of Lusikisiki in Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa. Video released by police showed that the shootings occurred at two houses in the same neighbourhood, which is a collection of rural homesteads on the outskirts of the town.

Twelve women and a man were killed in one house and three women and a man were killed in the other house, police said.

“A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings,” Mathe said. Police did not give any details on a possible motive.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their homes.

Ten members of the same family, seven of them women and one a 13-year-old boy, were killed in a mass shooting at their home in the neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal province last April.

South Africa's homicide rate is around 45 per 100,000 people, compared to around 6.3 per 100,000 in the United States. Most European countries' homicide rates are around 1 per 100,000 people. South Africa recorded more than 27,000 homicides in the 12 months from March 1, 2023, to February 28, 2024, which is more than 70 a day in the country of 62 million people.

Firearm laws are reasonably strict in South Africa, but authorities have often pointed to the large number of illegal, unregistered guns in circulation as a major problem.