Seven killed in mass shooting in South Africa's Cape Town

Cape Town, Oct 18 (IANS) Seven men were killed in a mass shooting in Cape Town, Western Cape Province of South Africa, on Friday night, local police confirmed on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Road R53 in Philippi East, a suburb in Cape Town's Cape Flats area, where seven men aged between 20 and 30 were fatally shot in what authorities described as a "senseless act of violence."

According to a statement issued Saturday morning by the South African Police Service (SAPS), police in the Western Cape have launched a large-scale manhunt following the shooting.

"Detectives attached to the Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes Unit have been assigned to the case and are pursuing every available lead to identify and apprehend those responsible for this brutal attack," the statement said.

"The Western Cape police management has strongly condemned this senseless act of violence and confirmed that the investigation has been prioritized to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice," it added, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the statement, Provincial Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile expressed concern about the level of violence and appealed to community members to assist the police by sharing any information that could aid the investigation.

"Community cooperation is crucial to bringing those responsible to book and restoring safety to our neighborhoods," Patekile said.

The motive behind the shooting remains unclear, and no arrests have been made.

Cape Town has seen a surge in gun violence and gang-related killings in recent months, prompting warnings from civil society that the Western Cape Province, of which Cape Town is the capital city, is facing a full-blown crisis.

In September, mounting gun violence in Cape Town, which had claimed at least a dozen lives across the metropolis in over one week, prompted the local government to shut down selected minibus taxi routes for 30 days.

Amid the escalating violence, the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) Western Cape said that it received the provincial government's decision to invoke Section 91 of the National Land Transport Act, allowing for extraordinary interventions in the taxi industry.

The closure had hit thousands of daily commuters. Minibus taxis are the primary form of public transport in South Africa, carrying millions of passengers every day.

--IANS

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