Mass shooting claims 6 lives in South Africa, police launch manhunt for suspects

A mass shooting in South Africa left six people dead and four wounded when three men entered the yard of a home and opened fire, police said Wednesday.

The shootings happened Tuesday night in the township of Kwanobuhle near the town of Kariega in the Eastern Cape province. The suspects have not been arrested and a search was underway, police said.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and at least 2,629 people were killed with a firearm in the first three months of this year, according to official crime statistics. That’s a rate of 30 people a day.

Police said five men and a woman were killed in Tuesday’s shooting and a woman was among the wounded.

“It is alleged that … three unknown males entered the yard and opened fire at people who were in the property or nearby to the house,” said police spokesperson Col. Priscilla Naidu. “Two females were shot at the gate. One female succumbed to her injuries while the other sustained gunshot wounds.”

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Police said the motive for the shooting is unclear.

There has been a series of mass shootings in South Africa recently, including at least three this year before Tuesday.

Eight people were fatally shot at a birthday party in the same Eastern Cape province in January. A child was among 10 members of the same family killed at a house in April. Eight died when gunmen burst into a men’s hostel and shot at occupants last month.

Last year, 16 people were killed in the township of Soweto in Johannesburg after numerous gunmen shot at people at a bar.