Manhunt under way after gunmen kill nine near South Africa’s Johannesburg

Motive unknown after about a dozen gunmen in minibus and car target tavern in Bekkersdal township, police say.

At least nine people have been killed and 10 wounded when armed men opened fire at a tavern in a township near the city of Johannesburg in South Africa, according to police.

In a statement on Sunday, the police said a manhunt by Gauteng Serious and Violent Crime Investigations in collaboration with the Crime Detection Tracing Unit is under way for those involved in the shooting, which took place in the Bekkersdal township just before 1am on Sunday (23:00 GMT on Saturday).

“It is reported that about 12 unknown suspects in a white kombi [a minibus] and a silver sedan opened fire at tavern patrons and continued to shoot randomly as they fled the scene,” the police said in a statement.

“The tavern is licensed,” it added.

There have been several mass shootings at bars – sometimes called shebeens or taverns in South Africa – in recent years, including a mass shooting carried out by multiple suspects in an unlicensed bar near the South African capital Pretoria that killed at least 12 people, including a three-year-old, early this month.