At least 27 dead after two mass shootings in South Africa, police say

Two separate mass shootings near South Africa’s two biggest cities killed at least 27 people, police have said.

The South African police service said on Sunday that 17 people were killed on Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, south-west of Johannesburg. At least 15 other people sustained gunshot injuries in that attack, police said.

In a separate statement, police said 10 people had been killed in a mass shooting at a store in Lwandle, near Cape Town, at about 1am on Sunday. Another 11 people were wounded in that shooting. Police said they were searching for multiple suspects, without giving an exact number.

The two attacks happened days after a mass shooting by three gunmen at a house party near the east coast city of Durban killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman.

No arrests had been made in the two latest mass shootings, police said.

South Africa has struggled with high rates of violent crime for years, but the series of mass shootings this week were shocking even to a country used to some of the highest violent crime rates in the world.