At least 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting at a hostel in South Africa.
Fourteen others were injured when gunmen stormed the venue in Saulsville township, west of the capital, Pretoria, early on Saturday. A three-year-old child was among those killed.
“At least three unknown gunmen entered the hostel, where a group of people were drinking, and started shooting indiscriminately,” police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said.
The motive behind the attack is unclear, and no arrests have been made.
This incident is the latest in a series of mass shootings in South Africa, a country that has seen a rise in violent crime in recent years.
The gunmen reportedly arrived around 04:30 local time (14:30 GMT) and opened fire on a group of men drinking at the illegal hostel. Among the dead were a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.
“I can confirm that a total of 25 people were shot,” Mathe added.
Describing the hostel as an “illegal shebeen,” she noted, “We face serious challenges with illegal and unlicensed liquor premises, which are often the sites of mass shootings. Innocent people are also caught in the crossfire.”
- South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, at 45 per 100,000 people, according to 2023–24 figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Police data indicate that, on average, 63 people die from violent crime every day between April and September.