Six people have died following gun attacks in South Africa, local authorities said on Saturday.

In the township of Umlazi, south of Durban, four people broke into a house on Friday and shot at the occupants, causing four deaths, the police said.

They then went to a social housing estate, where they attacked three more people, killing two.

"The preliminary investigation revealed that one of the suspects [...] asked the victims for their identity papers before shooting them," said police spokesman Robert Netshiunda, adding that three of the suspects have already been identified.

South African statistics indicate that between January and March, there were around 6,300 murders and more than 10,500 rapes in South Africa.