10 killed in armed attack near Johannesburg

SadaNews - The police in South Africa announced that 10 people were killed and 10 others were injured in an armed attack carried out by unknown assailants in the town of Bekersdal, located about 40 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, which is the second mass shooting incident the country has witnessed this month, according to Agence France-Presse.

The police stated that unknown gunmen fired randomly at the victims in the streets of the town, noting that the motives behind the attack remain unknown.

The agency quoted the spokesperson for the Gauteng province police, Brigadier Brenda Murideli, saying that 10 people have lost their lives, and we do not yet have details about their identities, adding that some of the victims "were randomly targeted in the streets."

The police indicated that the attack occurred near an illegal tavern in Bekersdal, a poor area located near several major gold mines in the country, confirming that the injured have been transferred to hospitals for treatment.

The police noted that the site where the attack took place was being used for illegal alcohol sales.

This attack comes just days after another shooting incident in the country on December 6, in which gunmen stormed a lodge near the capital Pretoria and killed 12 people, including a 3-year-old child.

South Africa suffers from high crime rates and is among the countries with the highest murder rates in the world, despite its population of about 63 million people.