CAPE TOWN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Gang violence flared up in a slum district here overnight, leaving ten people dead and two others wounded, police said Saturday.
Several shooting incidents took place in the informal settlement of Marikana, which is notorious for crimes linked to rivalry among different gangs.
This was believed to be the worst gang-related violence in recent years.
In the first incident, shots were fired inside a shebeen, fatally wounding four people, local police Captain FC van Wyk said.
In the second one, three more were shot dead in a shack and one outside the dwelling, said van Wyk.
Not far from where the second incident occurred, two more bodies were found lying between the shacks, he said.
A man and a woman with serious injuries had to be taken to the hospital, van Wyk said.
Also in Marikana, charred bodies of three men were discovered earlier this month. Police also linked this incident to gang-related violence.
Elsewhere, gang violence also escalated. On Tuesday night, seven people were shot dead in the Nyanga area.
These incidents highlight the seriousness of gang fighting in impoverished areas in the city, police said.
Residents in the affected areas have appealed to Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to intervene.
Some areas in Cape Town have been ravaged by gangs for a long time. Every year, dozens of people are killed in gang violence.
In November 2011, South African authorities sent army troops to quell gangs following rising gang-related violence.
Authorities have mediated a series of peace agreements between gangs, but the agreements did not last long.
