A manhunt is underway after 17 people living on the same street in a South African village were killed in a mass shooting, police said Saturday.
Two homes were targeted in the shootings early Saturday in Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki, South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, the country’s police ministry said in a statement, adding that six people, including a two-month-old baby, survived the attack.
“In the first homestead, four people were shot and killed, with no survivors,” the police statement said.
“In the second homestead, there were 19 people in two different houses in the same yard. Thirteen people were shot and killed,” it added. In total 15 women and two men were killed.
A team of detectives and forensic experts have been deployed “to piece all evidence together in a bid to apprehend these brutal criminals”, police said about the manhunt for the killers.
Mass shootings are common in South Africa where murder is at a 20-year high. The country also harbors one of the world’s highest murder rates.
According to recent police data, more than 6,000 people were murdered across the country between April and June this year.
The police ministry said that more than 53,000 suspects who are wanted for violent crimes including murder had been arrested in the last month and over 400 illegal and unregistered firearms seized.