At least 11 people, including a woman believed to be pregnant, were killed when three gunmen opened fire at a house party in South Africa’s KwaMakhutha township, police told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Three other people were wounded in the shooting late Tuesday, which took place about 30 km south of Durban on the country’s east coast. Ten people died at the scene and an 11th victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police, as reported by AP.
The attackers entered the house where people had gathered for a party and opened fire before fleeing, police said. No arrests had been made and authorities were searching for the suspects, while the condition of the three wounded victims was not immediately known, the report added.
Police said the motive remained unclear but did not rule out a feud between rival groups. Some of those at the house were known to police in connection with investigations into criminal activity, although authorities did not provide further details.
Thami Ntuli, premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, described the killings as “really disturbing” and said the community had longstanding problems with drug dealing and illegal firearms.
The shooting is the latest in a series of mass killings in South Africa in recent years. In June, multiple shooters killed 12 people in a poor neighbourhood in Johannesburg, while two mass shootings two weeks apart in December left 21 people dead, AP reported.
South Africa recorded 5,427 homicides between April and June, according to official police statistics, equivalent to nearly 60 killings a day.
Shootings are the most common form of homicide in the country, with police and crime experts pointing to the widespread circulation of illegal firearms as a major challenge.
At the KwaMakhutha scene, some victims' bodies were covered with white sheets outside the house as forensic investigators examined the area. Police cordoned off the neighbourhood, while authorities also investigated whether a car that was set on fire nearby was connected to the shooting.
