South African police have announced that 17 people, including 15 women, were killed in two mass shootings. The shootings took place on Friday evening in the town of Lusikisiki, in South Africa’s southeastern Eastern Cape province.
Another injured victim is in critical condition in hospital, according to authorities.
The video released by police shows that the shootings took place in two houses in the same neighborhood, located on the outskirts of the city and which includes a group of rural farms.
Twelve women and a man were killed in one house and three women and a man were killed in the other house, police said.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their own homes.
South Africa, a country of 62 million people, recorded 12,734 homicides in the first six months of this year, according to official police statistics. This represents an average of more than 70 homicides per day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in these cases.
