South African police collect on the scene of a mass capturing the place gunmen killed 9 and injured a minimum of 10 in a pub in Bekkersdal, South Africa, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.
Alfonso Nqunjana/AP
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Alfonso Nqunjana/AP
9 folks have died and a minimum of 10 others had been wounded after a bunch of gunmen carried out a capturing at a South African pub throughout the early hours of Sunday, authorities mentioned.
The incident occurred simply earlier than 1 a.m. within the township of Bekkersdal which is positioned 46 kilometers (28 miles) west of Johannesburg. It’s the second mass capturing to occur in South Africa in three weeks.
About 12 unknown suspects in a white mini-bus and a silver sedan opened hearth at pub patrons at KwaNoxolo tavern, within the Tambo part of Bekkersdal and continued to shoot randomly as they fled the scene based on police.
“Some victims had been randomly shot within the streets by unknown gunmen,” the police mentioned of the incident that left 9 folks lifeless and 10 hospitalized.
Provincial police commissioner Maj. Gen. Fred Kekana instructed SABC tv that one of many deceased was a driver from a web-based car-hailing service who had been outdoors the pub.
A manhunt for the suspects within the a number of gunshot occasion has been initiated by Gauteng Critical and Violent Crime Investigations in collaboration with the Crime Detection Tracing Unit.
There have been a number of mass shootings at bars — generally referred to as shebeens or taverns in South Africa — lately, together with a mass capturing carried out by a number of suspects in an unlicensed bar close to the South African capital that left a minimum of 12 folks lifeless and 13 injured earlier this month.
One other capturing killed 16 folks within the Johannesburg township of Soweto in 2022. On the identical day, 4 folks had been killed in a mass capturing at a bar in one other province.
With nearly 26,000 homicides in 2024, or greater than 70 per day on common, South Africa has one of many highest murder charges on the earth. Firearms are by far the main reason behind dying in homicides. Though the nation of 62 million has comparatively stringent gun management legal guidelines, officers say many murders are carried out utilizing unlawful firearms.
