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Death toll in South African xenophobic violence reaches 13
Posted: 19 May 2008 1638 hrs

  South African police shoot rubber bullets as they try to disperse groups of rioters.
 
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JOHANNESBURG : Another foreigner has been killed in South Africa as a wave of xenophobic violence spreads across Johannesburg, bringing the weekend death toll to 13, police said Monday.

"Last night (Sunday) was relatively quiet compared to previous nights. We had a few incidents, one murder was reported from Alexandra. The body was found with bullet wounds," police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo told AFP.

He said police from around the country's financial capital would meet on Monday to collate information from the weekend attacks in townships and the downtown area.

Some 250 people had been arrested during the attacks, including those committing offences such as looting which Mariemuthoo said were "pure criminal activities".

The violence against foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime, has spread across townships since the beginning of last week.

Wielding guns and machetes, marauding mobs have launched attacks on foreigners from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

On Sunday an immigrant died after being covered with his own blankets and set alight. The gruesome image of the human fireball was captured on the front-page of several South African papers on Monday.

President Thabo Mbeki and leader of the ruling African National Congress Jacob Zuma have both strongly condemned the attacks.

The bulk of the immigrants who have flooded South Africa in recent years are from Zimbabwe, with an estimated three million having fled the economic meltdown and political crisis in their homeland.

- AFP /ls

 


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