JOHANNESBURG: Two bar shootings, one in a township close to Johannesburg and another in eastern South Africa, left 19 dead, police said on Sunday.
In Soweto, 15 people were killed after as they enjoyed a night out, police said, when assailants drew up in a minibus taxi and began randomly firing at bar patrons.
In the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg, police reported four people were killed and eight wounded during a shootout in a bar after two men fired discriminately at customers.
Police sources said it was too early to say if the assaults were in some way connected but observed their similarity.
In Soweto, Johannesburg’s largest township to the southwest of South Africa’s economic capital, police were called to the scene shortly after midnight.
“When we arrived at the scene, 12 people were dead with gunshot wounds,” local police officer Nonhlanhla Kubheka told AFP.
She added 11 people were taken to hospital. Three died shortly after arrival.
There were no details regarding the assailants.
“Nobody has been arrested. Officers are still on site. They came and shot at people who were having fun,” said Kubheka, commander of the Orlando police station, the Soweto district where the shooting took place.
Hundreds of people were massed behind police cordons Sunday as police investigated, AFP journalists reported. Only a small poster showing beer prices at the bar could be seen outside the establishment.
Police led away relatives of those caught up in the drama who tried to approach the crime scene.
In Pietermaritzburg, four people were killed and eight wounded in a shootout around 8:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) which left eight others injured, local police spokesman Nqobile Gwala said.
Two men drove up, entered the bar and “fired random shots at the patrons,” before fleeing, Lt. Col. Gwala said.
“A total of 12 people were shot. Two people were declared dead at the scene and the other two died in hospital.
“Another eight people are still in hospital after they sustained injuries.”
The dead were aged between 30 and 45.
The two incidents come a year after an outbreak of the worst violence the country has seen since the end of the apartheid era three decades ago brought democracy.
Last July saw large scale rioting and looting, ransacking of shops, a wave of arson attacks and attacks on infrastructure and industrial warehouses leading to more than 350 deaths and several thousand arrests with the country already in the throes of a major COVID-19 wave.
Most of the unrest occurred in Johannesburg and the eastern province of Kwazulu-Natal as South Africans protested the sentencing and incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma was sentenced after refusing to testify on corruption charges during his 2009 to 2018 tenure.
Two bar shootings across South Africa kill at least 19: police say
https://arab.news/gbabz
Two bar shootings across South Africa kill at least 19: police say
- Police say too early to tell if the assaults are connected but observed their similarity
Migrant entries into Spain drop over 40 percent in 2025
- EU border agency Frontex has also cited stricter preventive measures in departure countries, particularly Mauritania, as a key factor in the drop in migrant arrivals in the Canaries
MADRID: Migrant arrivals to Spain fell by over 40 percent in 2025, largely due to a sharp drop in arrivals along the perilous Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, official figures showed Friday.
Spain is one of the main entry points for people seeking a better life in Europe, and the country has faced pressure from European Union partners to curb irregular migration.
The interior ministry said 36,775 migrants entered Spain irregularly last year, the vast majority by sea, declining by 42.6 percent from 64,019 in 2024.
Arrivals to the Canary Islands dropped 62 percent to 17,788 in 2025, while arrivals in the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean — mainly from Algeria — rose 24.5 percent to 7,321.
Despite the overall decline, migrant deaths remained high.
Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras said Monday that over 3,000 people died while trying to reach Spain in 2025, including 437 minors.
The group compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued.
The drop in arrivals to the Canaries follows improved relations between Spain and Morocco, where many of the boats headed for the archipelago originate, since Madrid in 2022 backed Rabat’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara territory.
Both countries have increased maritime surveillance, intelligence sharing and crackdowns on smuggling networks, with Morocco intensifying coastal patrols.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has called for “prevention at the source” to reduce irregular migration.
He has credited Spain’s cooperation with Mauritania and other African countries for the decline in arrivals to the Canaries.
“We can only reduce irregular migration by establishing comprehensive alliances based on trust and mutual benefit,” he said at a November meeting in Malta with EU interior and migration officials.
EU border agency Frontex has also cited stricter preventive measures in departure countries, particularly Mauritania, as a key factor in the drop in migrant arrivals in the Canaries.
In 2024, Mauritania signed a pact with the EU aimed at curbing dangerous maritime crossings in exchange for 210 million euros ($246 million) in funding.
Human rights groups, however, argue that such agreements can encourage abuse.
Human Rights Watch accused Mauritanian authorities in an August report of systematic abuses of migrants, including rape, torture and extortion at the hands of border personnel.
It said the violations worsened after Mauritania signed the migration pact with the EU.
Mauritania has rejected the accusations.
