Arabic version: إطلاقا نار في جنوب أفريقيا يقتلان 27 شخصاً

According to BBC News, 27 people were killed in two mass shootings hours apart in South Africa. Seventeen people died after eight gunmen stormed a bar near Johannesburg on Saturday evening, while 10 were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town early on Sunday.

In the Johannesburg attack, gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing inside. They then torched two vehicles as they fled. Police said 13 men and four women were killed, and 15 other people were injured. Gauteng Police Commissioner Lt Gen Tommy Mthombeni said people from Ethiopia and Lesotho were among those affected, although most were South African.

Police said they believed robbery may have been a motive in Johannesburg because personal belongings were taken, but they could not rule out turf wars between illegal mining groups. Earlier, deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana said the attack may have been retaliation for an incident last month in which one person was killed and another wounded. He said police had clear pictures and, in some cases, names for suspects.

In the Cape Town shooting, five victims died at the scene and another five died in hospital. Eleven people were injured. No arrests had been made in either case by Sunday morning. The shootings came days after 11 people were killed when gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township in Durban.

South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with about 60 murders recorded every day in a population of 62 million. Gun violence has remained a persistent problem, often linked to turf wars involving gangs engaged in drug trafficking and illegal mining. Earlier this year, the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the highest murder rates.