Ten family members, including seven women, are massacred in mass shooting bloodbath in South Africa

Ten members of the same family, seven of them women, have today been killed in a mass shooting at a house in South Africa, police said.

The family were ambushed by a group of gunmen and shot dead at their home in the city of Pietermaritzburg in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, police said.

Police said two suspects have been arrested over the shooting, which occurred in the early hours of this morning.

Firearms believed to have been used by the suspects have been seized by officers, who are yet to provide a motive for the shooting.

‘It’s a crime scene, terrible. Too many people were lost here,’ Police Minister Bheki Cele said in comments broadcast on public broadcaster SABC from Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province.

A body of one of the victims is seen on a banking next to the family’s home 

Police said two suspects (pictured) have been arrested over the shooting, which occurred in the early hours of this morning

Officers were called to the scene this morning following reports of gunfire and discovered the ten family members shot dead.

‘When they attended to the scene, they found 10 members of one family were shot and fatally wounded in one of the homes,’ police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said.

At the scene, emergency services personnel were seen loading the bodies of the victims into a mortuary van. 

Shootings are common in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates with around 20,000 people killed every year out of a population of 60 million. 

In January, gunmen opened fire on a group of people celebrating a birthday in the southern port city of Gqeberha, killing eight and wounding three others.

The birthday celebrant was among those gunned down in the mass shooting. 

He had been celebrating his birthday with friends when two gunmen entered his yard and started shooting at the guests. 

Last year, 16 people 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.

According to campaign group Gun Free South Africa, there are about 3 million guns registered in the country, though there are many more unregistered.

Firearms believed to have been used by the suspects have been seized by officers, who are yet to provide a motive for the shooting

Firearms believed to have been used by the suspects have been seized by officers, who are yet to provide a motive for the shooting. Pictured: The scene 

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