Europe 1 with AFP 11:29 a.m., July 10, 2022
At least 18 people have died in two shootings at bars in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, overnight.
If for the time being, the police do not yet have proof that the two shootings are linked, the "similar" modus operandi indicates to the authorities that the same assailants are at the origin of the two killings.
Two shootings in bars in South Africa, where the assailants appear to have fired at random on customers, left 18 dead overnight from Saturday to Sunday, according to a police count.
In Soweto, near Johannesburg, 14 people were killed when assailants opened fire on the "enjoying" crowd, while in Pietermaritzburg (East, Zulu region), four were killed by two men who opened fire indiscriminately on the customers seated.
It's too early to tell, police sources warn, but the modus operandi seems similar.
In Soweto, the largest historic township in Johannesburg, southwest of the South African economic capital, the police were called in the night, around 00:30.
"When we arrived there, twelve people were dead, with gunshot wounds," local police chief Ms. Nonhlanhla Kubheka told AFP.
"They arrived and shot people who were having fun"
Eleven injured were taken to hospital and two of them died there shortly after their arrival, she said early in the morning.
No details were available on the attackers.
"They arrived and shot people who were having fun," said Ms. Kubheka, commander of the Orlando police station, the district of Soweto where the tragedy took place.
The police did not make any arrests and an investigation was opened, a team of police officers was still on the spot in the morning, she added.
This bar is located in the East Orlando neighborhood of Soweto.
Hundreds of people from the neighborhood were massed behind the cordons of the judicial police, according to AFP journalists on the spot.
The bodies were taken away.
Only a small sign announcing beer prices was visible in front of the establishment.
Crying relatives tried to approach but were picked up by the police.
In Pietermaritzburg (East), the shooting broke out around 8:30 p.m. in a bar and left four dead and eight injured, confirmed local police spokesman Nqobile Gwala.
“A group of people were having drinks in a tavern and a car parked in front” of the establishment, explained the lieutenant-colonel in a press release.
“Two men jumped out of the car, entered the bar and opened fire indiscriminately on the customers,” he added.
Tense social climate
Twelve people were affected;
two died on the spot and two died in stride at the hospital, he further specified.
The other eight remain hospitalized.
Those killed are between 30 and 45 years old.
An investigation has also been opened.
These violent incidents come a year after the worst violence the country has seen since the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy.
In July 2021, these riots, massive looting and destruction of industrial sites, mainly in Johannesburg and in the province of Kwazulu-Natal (East), had killed more than 350 people.
Initially triggered by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, convicted of contempt of court and prosecuted for serious acts of corruption, this violence took place in a tense social and economic climate.