Gunmen kill 11 at South Africa house party
No arrests have been made, and the acting national police commissioner has ordered a special 72-hour operation to find the three suspects.
Three gunmen opened fire at a house party in KwaMakhutha, a township about 30km south of Durban in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, killing 11 people and wounding three others.
The shooting happened late on the night of 22 September. Ten people died at the scene and one later in hospital, according to police. A pregnant woman was among those killed.
The South African Police Service said: “Although the motive of the shooting cannot be confirmed yet, (a) feud between rival groupings cannot be ruled out.”
Police added that some of the victims “were known to authorities as part of investigations into criminal activity”, but declined to give details so as not to compromise those investigations.
The three suspected gunmen remain at large. Police have not said who the victims were or how many people were at the party.
Thami Ntuli, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, called the killings “really disturbing” and pointed to the community’s known problems with drug dealing and illegal firearms.