At least 27 dead after two mass shootings in South Africa, police say

Seventeen people killed near Johannesburg in suspected ‘illegal goldmining turf war’, as 10 killed in separate incident at barbecue venue near Cape Town

Two separate mass shootings near South Africa’s two biggest cities killed at least 27 people, as the country grapples with one of the world’s highest murder rates amid investigations into corruption and criminality within the police.

The South African police service said on Sunday that 17 people were killed on Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, about 50 miles south-west of central Johannesburg. At least 15 other people sustained gunshot injuries in that attack, police said.