A six-year-old child was one of the casualties in two separate shootings in Beacon Valley, Mitchells Plain on Saturday morning, Western Cape police said.

The little boy was wounded in Lagonda Crescent when he was caught in the crossfire of rival gangs at about 09:30, police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut said.

The child has been admitted to hospital.

No one has been arrested for the shootingIn a second incident, also at about 09:30, two men aged 23 and 40 were shot and injured in Ferrari Crescent.

The circumstances are being investigated and arrests are yet to be made, Traut said.

Mitchells Plain police precinct is one of the 10 most gang-ridden in Cape Town which has contributed to 42% of attempted murders in the province.

Members of the South African National Defence Force have been deployed for three months to assist the police in stemming the blood flow in the area, as well as Bishop Lavis, Delft, Elsies River, Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Philippi, Kraaifontein and Manenberg.

Troops hit the streets of the Cape Flats last Thursday, a week after Police Minister Bheki Cele announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa had given the go-ahead for soldiers to enter gang-infested areas.

Source: News24