Most of the victims were women killed in one house, according to the police, who have started a manhunt for the gunmen.
At least 17 people were killed when gunmen targeted two family homes in South Africa, the police said on Saturday, adding to a rising number of mass shootings in the country.
Gunmen opened fire on two homesteads in a township outside Lusikisiki, a town in rural Eastern Cape Province, the police said in a statement. Thirteen people were killed in one house, the police said, adding that all but one of the victims were women.
In another homestead, four people were killed, according to the statement, and another victim is in the hospital in critical condition.
The victims were all believed to be relatives and neighbors who had gathered to prepare for a traditional ceremony, according to a report in The Daily Dispatch, a local newspaper.
The authorities have started a manhunt as the town reels from the killings.
“This is the first time we’ve witnessed something like this,” Lwando Nonkonyana, a spokesman for the local municipality, said in a telephone interview. “And it’s a shock to the area.”
South Africa has for years recorded high rates of violent crime, and the police and experts have noted an increasing number of mass shootings in the past few years.
In January 2023, gunmen killed eight people at a birthday party in Gqeberha, a coastal city in Eastern Cape Province. In April last year, gunmen stormed a house and killed 10 people at a homestead outside the city of Pietermaritzburg in the east of the country. And in July 2022, at least 19 people were shot dead in multiple taverns, including in Johannesburg’s Soweto township.
Crime statistics released by the government in August showed that murder rates had increased in four of South Africa’s nine provinces, driven largely by gun violence.
This is a developing story.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. More about Lynsey Chutel
