10 members of same family dead in mass shooting in South Africa

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and there has been a spate of mass shootings in recent years.

Last year, 16 died in a mass shooting at a bar in the Johannesburg township (FILE)

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Ten members of the same family, seven of them women, were killed in a mass shooting at a house in South Africa, police said on Friday.

According to initial reports, they were ambushed by unknown gunmen at the home in the city of Pietermaritzburg in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, police said. The shooting happened Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Police Minister Bheki Cele was due to visit the scene on Friday.

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South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and there has been a spate of mass shootings in recent years.

Eight people were fatally shot at a birthday party in the south coast city of Gqeberha in January. Last year, 16 died in a mass shooting at a bar in the Johannesburg township of Soweto when a group of armed men, some of them wielding rifles, opened fire on customers.

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