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Nine dead and ten injured in South Africa in the second mass shooting this month
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Nine dead and ten injured in South Africa in the second mass shooting this month

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Nine people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a bar outside Johannesburg early on Sunday, police said, in the second such shooting in South Africa this month.
Ten others were injured in the early morning attack on the inn in the impoverished municipality of Bekkersdal in a gold mining area about 40 kilometers southwest of the city.
It follows a shooting at a tavern near Pretoria on December 6, in which gunmen killed a dozen people, including a three-year-old child.
Police initially said 10 people were killed when the bar in Bekkersdal was attacked just before 1 a.m. local time, but later revised down the toll.
Most of the attackers were armed with pistols and one had an AK-47 rifle, deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana told SABC television from the scene.

“They entered the tavern and randomly shot at the customers without any provocation,” he said.

Authorities have launched a manhunt for the suspects, the South African police said. Source: AP / Alfonso Nqunjana

Three people were killed inside the bar and others as they fled the scene, with the attackers continuing to shoot as they left, he said.

“It is also reported that after shooting the people, they searched them. They took away their valuables including mobile phones,” Kekana said.
Among the dead was a driver from an online car hailing service who was driving by.
“It’s pure criminality,” Kekana said. Police launched a manhunt for the attackers and appealed for the public’s help.

Authorities have launched a manhunt for the suspects, the South African police said.

South Africa is seeing an increase in organized crime

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country, suffers from a high crime rate, largely caused by organized networks and gangs.
The country is awash with legal and illegal firearms and shootings are common, often fueled by rivalries between gangs and competition between informal businesses.
The hostel hit in the attack in Pretoria earlier this month was an unlicensed outlet in a hostel for migrant workers in the Saulsville municipality.

Among the dead were children aged three, twelve and sixteen.

The country was also shocked by the murder last week in central Johannesburg of a popular former radio presenter known as DJ Warras.
The 40-year-old, whose real name was Warris Stock, was shot on December 16 outside a building he had visited as part of his work at a private security company.
In another high-profile killing, a witness in a corruption investigation was shot dead in front of his family on December 5, just weeks after testifying against a municipal police chief.

The murder of 41-year-old Marius Van der Merwe reignited a debate on how to tackle whistleblowers who provide information on crime and corruption, including the public sector and cases involving government officials.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with an average of 63 deaths per day between April and September, according to police data.
In one of the worst mass shootings in recent months, eighteen family members were shot dead in a rural homestead in the Eastern Cape province in September 2024.
The victims, who had gathered for a traditional ceremony, were aged between 14 and 64, 15 of whom were women. Several men have been arrested.

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