Gunmen stormed a house in South Africa and killed 10 members of the same family – seven of them women – police have said.

The shooting took place in the city of Pietermaritzburg in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province on Friday.

Police responded to a report of gunshots early in the morning.

“When they attended to the scene, they found 10 members of one family were shot and fatally wounded in one of the homes,” South African news website News24 quoted police spokesman Brigadier Jay Naicker as saying.

It is believed two gunmen entered the property and opened fire on the family, he said.

“The motive for the killings is unknown,” he added.

Mabhungu Mkhize, a local councillor, told news channel SABC News: “A family was attacked while they were sleeping.”

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South Africa, which has a population of 60 million, has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with around 20,000 recorded every year.

Eight people were shot dead at a birthday party in the coastal city of Gqeberha in Eastern Cape province in January.

Last year, 15 people died in a mass shooting at a bar in the Johannesburg township of Soweto when a group of armed men opened fire on customers.

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