JOHANNESBURG, JUN 10 (AP): A group of armed attackers drove into a poor neighbourhood in South Africa’s biggest city, got out of a minivan and opened fire at residents in a late-night attack in Johannesburg that killed 12 people and wounded at least nine, police said Wednesday.
The attack unfolded late on Tuesday night in an informal settlement in the city’s Cleveland suburb, police said, adding that there were at least 10 suspected attackers who later fled the scene.
Johannesburg has long been the scene of organised crime gangs vying for control of illegal mining or other activities, though police said the motive of the latest shooting was still under investigation.
Police said the shooters were dropped off at the settlement in a minibus “and moved through the area, opening fire on residents and community members at multiple locations before fleeing the scene in the same vehicle.” The victims were nine men and three women, according to police. Eleven died at the scene and another victim died in the hospital.
Police say the shooting was insane and barbaric
Police said a search was launched for the suspects and the vehicle but that no arrests had been made.
Provincial police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni called the killings “insane, heartless and, to a certain extent, barbaric.” He said it was too early to link them to illegal mining gangs as an investigation was underway, but police were considering that as a possible motive.
He said a recent police operation in the area had confiscated illegal firearms, including assault rifles, and illegal miners were known to operate there.
Ambulances were on the scene on Wednesday morning to carry away the victims’ bodies while community members huddled in groups on the streets.
Informal settlements in South Africa are unplanned residential areas that are common in and around big cities where people looking for housing live in shacks or other makeshift structures. Illegal miners sometimes operate in the same areas.
