Eight men were murdered and two more seriously wounded in a brutal massacre on Monday in a house in Cape Town, South Africa, used as a gay massage parlour, according to media reports. All 10 men had been shot in the head.

Police spokesman Captain Etienne Terblanche said when detectives arrived on the scene, they found six bodies and four seriously wounded men, two of whom subsequently died in hospital. Most of the victims were shot dead at close range with their hands tied and throats slit.

"All the bodies looked similar," Terblanche said. "They were tied up with sticky tape and they were shot in the same way in the head. There was lots of blood on the scene."

The police was notified when neighbours heard gunshots at the house about 4am and saw one victim, with a gaping wound in his neck, staggering to a nearby petrol station.

The police are not yet certain whether the victims were clients or workers at Sizzlers, a known gay massage parlour - located in the seedy Sea Point suburb of Cape Town known for its nightlife and illicit drug trade. Cape Town has recently been marketing itself as a holiday destination for gays.

While the police had no comment on a possible motive, they are searching for four white men in connection with the attack and are investigating all possibilities.

Lesbian and gay activists fear the massacre could have been a hate crime, although the Western Cape province's security minister, Leonard Ramatlakane, said the attack bore the hallmarks of organised crime linked to gang wars or the drugs trade.

Witnesses apparently told police that they had seen one of the victims arguing about drug money with two occupants of a white BMW near the parlour minutes earlier.

South African politicians, sex-workers and gay rights activists have all condemned the attack.

South Africa's Lesbian and Gay Equality Project believe it could have been a hate crime and called on the police to work diligently to find the killers.

"We have been very concerned about threats issued by various fringe groups in society over recent months that indicated an intention to perpetrate acts of violence against lesbian and gay people,'' the organisation's director, Evert Knoesen, said.

South Africa hosts several successful gay pride marches and accords child adoption rights to same-sex couples.