Lusikisiki, South Africa, Sept. 28: Seventeen people, including 15 women, have been killed in two mass shootings that took place close to each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said.

A search was under way for the suspects, the national police spokesperson, Brig Athlenda Mathe, said in a statement on Saturday. One other person was in critical condition in the hospital, she added.

The shootings took place on Friday night in Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape province. Video footage released by police showed the shootings occurred at two houses in a collection of rural houses on the outskirts of the town.

Twelve women and a man were killed in one house and three women and a man were killed in the other house, police said.

“A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings,” Mathe said. Police did not give any details on a possible motive.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their homes.

Ten members of the same family, seven of them women and one a 13-year-old boy, were shot dead at their home in the neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal province last April.

South Africa’s murder rate is about 45 in every 100,000 people, compared with around 6.4 in every 100,000 in the US. Most European countries’ homicide rates are about 1 for every 100,000 people. South Africa, which has a population of about 62 million people, recorded more than 27,000 homicides in the 12 months from 1 March 2023, more than 70 a day.

Firearm laws are reasonably strict in South Africa, but authorities have often said the large number of illegal, unregistered guns in circulation is a significant problem.-Agencies