Ten members of the same family, seven of them women, have been killed in a mass shooting at a house in South Africa.
Two unknown gunmen ambushed them while they were at home in the city of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province, police said today.
Police Minister Bheki Cele was due to visit the scene on Friday.
Police spokesperson, Brigadier Jay Naicker, said officers responded after receiving reports of a shooting in the early hours.
He said that on arrival, cops found the grisly remains.
"When they attended to the scene, they found 10 members of one family were shot and fatally wounded in one of the homes," he explained.
Police believe that two assailants were involved, according to their preliminary investigation, Naicker said.
"It is believed that two unknown gunmen entered the home and opened fire on the family members – seven females and three males."
"Presently, the motive for the killings is unknown," he added.
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.
Earlier this week, it was reported how a twisted school shooter who gunned down 19 innocent kids smeared their blood on the whiteboard to write the word "Lol".
Evil gunman Ramos, 18, massacred 19 children in a sickening rampage at Robb Elementary School in Texas, after first shooting his own grandmother at a house in May last year.
By the end of the horrific spree in the city of Uvalde, Ramos had killed 19 kids and two teachers before being gunned down by police.
The latest revelation came during an emotional hearing with victims’ families which marked the first time Texas lawmakers have given any proposed gun restrictions a hearing since the massacre.
Texas House Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said: “The attacker scooped up the blood of his victims and smeared it into his disgusting message.
“What he wrote in innocent blood next to that (whiteboard) was the phrase, 'LOL'.”
His statement caused those attending to gasp and openly sob.
The late-night hearing - which started Tuesday morning and stretched past midnight - underlined both the sustained anger by some Uvalde families nearly a year after the shooting.
Much of the debate centred on a proposal that would raise the age to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 years old, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has opposed.
