Johannesburg - Two babies and their parents were in critical condition in hospital in South Africa Friday after their lodgings in Johannesburg's middle-class northern suburbs were attacked and torched, local television and news agency reports said.

Private E-tv television news said the babies were 14-month-old boy and girl twins, and that their parents worked as gardener and domestic worker at the home in the suburb of Blairgowrie.

The circumstances of the attack were unclear. One resident told e-tv that the house alarm had been activated and that security guards had found the injured father in the street calling for help after the room occupied by the family had apparently been set alight.

The police were expected to give further details during the evening.

South Africa is battling high levels of violent crime. Around 50 people are murdered each day in the country.(dpa)