CAPE TOWN, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Five more people were shot dead overnight, bringing to 13 the total number of people killed over the past 24 hours in what was believed to be gang-related violence in Cape Town, police said on Sunday.
Gunfire flared up again on Saturday night in Philippi, a gang-ravaged township in Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa, police Brigadier Jorina Zandberg told reporters.
Five people were killed and another person wounded in two separate shooting incidents on Saturday night, said Zandberg.
The latest spate of gang-related violence came after eight people, including five women, were shot dead in separate incidents on Friday night and Saturday morning.
Police have launched a manhunt for suspects responsible for the killings but so far no arrests have been made, according to police.
The motive for the killings is unknown at this stage.
On Sunday, a group of residents in Philippi protested outside the local police station, calling for police management to intervene and reduce violent crime.
A 72-hour action plan in response to the killings has been put in place, police said.
The killings came less than a week before Police Minister Bheki Cele visited Cape Town to address gang-violence that has plagued several communities around the city.
The city has been ravaged by gangs for a long time. Every year, dozens of people are killed in gang violence, prompting local authorities to call on the national government to send army troops to quell gangs.
Late last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched an anti-gang unit in Cape Town to quell rising gang violence in the city.
