Eight gunmen have killed at least 27 people in two mass shootings in South Africa’s two main cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town, police said on Sunday, in the latest criminal violence to hit the country.
The attackers, armed with assault rifles and pistols, stormed a bar southwest of Johannesburg at around 1930 GMT on Saturday, killing 17 people and wounding 15 others.
The dead included 13 males and four females.
The suspects opened fire on customers drinking outside and then moved inside to continue shooting, police said.
The shooting took place in Wedela, a semi-rural township of brick houses and small businesses, surrounded by wide expanses of land used for mining.
The suspects torched two vehicles before fleeing.
The area has been a focus of a government crackdown on illegal mining, with soldiers deployed alongside police to tackle criminal networks operating around abandoned mine shafts.
The motive for the attack was unknown.
“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,” deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana said at the scene.
“We managed to get clear pictures of the suspects, and we will get them,” he said, adding that the attack appeared to have been retaliation for an incident last month.
One of the victims was being sought by police in connection with an incident at the same tavern last month in which one person was killed and another wounded, Kekana said.
