At least 12 people have been killed and nine others wounded in a late-night mass shooting in Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city. Police say multiple attackers were involved in the assault, which unfolded after dark and ranks among the most violent recent incidents in the city. The high number of victims has drawn immediate attention to the security situation in the area where the shooting took place.
According to police, more than ten suspects are believed to have been driven in a minibus to an informal settlement in the Cleveland suburb of Johannesburg late on Tuesday night. The use of a vehicle to move such a large group of attackers points to a degree of planning behind the assault. Investigators are now working to establish exactly how the group reached the area before the shooting began.
Once they arrived at the settlement, the attackers opened fire on people who were there, according to the police account. The gunfire left 12 people dead and at least nine others wounded, in a sudden burst of violence that caught the community by surprise. First images from the scene have only just begun to emerge as the authorities piece together what happened during the night.
The attack is not an isolated case for Johannesburg, which has seen several high-profile mass shootings in recent times. The frequency of such incidents has raised concern about the ability of the authorities to prevent coordinated attacks carried out by groups of gunmen. This latest shooting adds to a worrying pattern of deadly violence in and around the city.
Among the most serious recent cases were two attacks in December that together killed more than 20 people. One of those incidents, like the latest shooting, also involved multiple shooters acting together. The recurrence of attacks committed by several gunmen at once has become a defining feature of this wave of violence in the Johannesburg area.
The shootings in and around Johannesburg are sometimes linked to illegal mining gangs that operate in the region. These groups have been associated with violent disputes, and the authorities have repeatedly had to respond to deadly incidents connected to that underground activity. Whether the latest attack is tied to those rivalries is among the questions that investigators are now expected to examine.