Police said the search was launched after the attack in the southeastern region, where mass shootings have become common recently.
Seventeen people, including 15 women, were killed in two houses next to each other in a rural South African village, police said.
Police spokeswoman Atlenda Mate said in a statement on Saturday that the search for the suspects was ongoing.
The shooting occurred last Friday night in the village of Rushikiki in South Africa’s southeastern Eastern Cape province.
Video released by police showed the shooting occurred at two homes in the same neighborhood, which is a cluster of rural farms on the outskirts of town.
Police said 12 women and one man were killed in one home, and three women and one man were killed in another home. Four women, one man and a two-month-old baby survived.
Local media reported that they were attending a family gathering at the time of the shooting, but the motive for the killings has not yet been revealed.
Search in progress
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said at a media briefing on Saturday that a team of detectives and forensic experts had been deployed.
“We have full faith and confidence in the team deployed to solve this case and find the criminals. Either they will hand it over themselves or we will take it ourselves,” Mchunu said.
Police chief Fanny Masemola told public television SABC: “We don’t know the motive. We don’t know if there is one suspect on the run or if there are multiple suspects.”
South Africa, a country of 62 million people, recorded 12,734 murders in the first six months of the year, according to official police crime statistics. That’s an average of over 70 cases per day. In these cases, firearms are the leading cause of death.
Mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their own homes. In April 2023, 10 members of a family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in a shooting at a home in the neighboring province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Gun laws are quite strict in South Africa, but authorities have often cited the number of unregistered and illegal guns in circulation as a major problem.
