Tragedy struck on Friday as yet to be identified gunmen stormed a house, ambushed and killed 10 members of a family in the latest episode of mass shooting to rock crime-ridden South Africa.
Report quote Police to have said seven women and three men were fatally wounded in Imbali, a township south of Pietermaritzburg in the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.
“According to initial police reports, the unknown gunmen stormed a Pietermaritzburg homestead and ambushed the family,” police spokeswoman Lirandzu Themba said in a statement.
The motive for the killing was not immediately clear.
Police Minister Bheki Cele who visited the scene of the crime was quoted as saying “It’s a crime scene, terrible. Too many people were lost here,” in comments broadcast on public broadcaster SABC from Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province.
Cele said police management needed to sit down to talk about whether the province needed more police resources.
Mass shootings are relatively common in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates.