Three children among 11 people killed in mass shooting at South African bar

The shooting happened at an unlicensed bar in the Saulsville township west of Pretoria, according to a statement from the South African Police Services (Alamy/PA)

At least 11 people, including three children, were killed in a mass shooting at a bar in a township near the South African administrative capital of Pretoria, police said on Saturday.

Another 14 people were wounded and taken to hospital with gunshot wounds, according to a statement from the South African Police Services.

Police did not give details on the ages of those who were injured.

The shooting happened at an unlicensed bar in the Saulsville township west of Pretoria in the early hours of Saturday.

The children killed were a three-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. Police said they were searching for three suspects.

There have been several mass shootings at bars – sometimes called shebeens or taverns in South Africa – in recent years, including one that killed 16 people in the Johannesburg township of Soweto in 2022.

Police said 18 people were killed, 15 of them women, in mass shootings at two separate houses on the same road in a rural part of Eastern Cape province in September last year.

A man was charged with 18 counts of murder for allegedly shooting the victims with an AK-style assault rifle.