- Two mass shootings killed 27 near Johannesburg, Cape Town.
- Wedela township shooting killed 17; Lwandle shooting killed 10.
- Police searching for multiple suspects in both violent attacks.
Two separate mass shootings near South Africa's two biggest cities killed at least 27 people. The South African Police Service said on Sunday that at least 17 people were killed Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, southwest of Johannesburg. At least 15 others sustained gunshot injuries in that attack, police said.
10 killed in store shooting
In a separate statement, police said 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at a store in Lwandle, near Cape Town, around 1 am Sunday. Another 11 were wounded in that shooting. Police said they were searching for multiple suspects in that case also, though they didn't give an exact number.
The two shootings come just 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.
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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.
South Africa has a firearm problem
"South Africa has a serious illegal firearms problem, and firearms are frequently used by organised criminal groups as well as in gang-related and other violent crimes," said crime expert Yusuf Abramjee. "Every mass shooting should therefore trigger more than an investigation into the immediate perpetrators," he told Reuters. "Authorities need to look at the wider networks behind the violence."
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President Cyril Ramaphosa said earlier this year that organised crime had become the biggest threat to South Africa's democracy, and deployed the army to help police in some areas.
(With inputs from agencies)