A wave of attacks on foreigners in South Africa has killed 62 people since the violence broke out three weeks ago, police said today.
The violence, which has now subsided, targeted newcomers to South Africa as well as those who had been in the country for decades, and tens of thousands were forced to take refuge in shelters around the country.
"This has raised the earlier toll of 56 dead. A total of 670 have been injured," a police spokeswoman said. Some had died in hospital from injuries.
Fifty-two of the dead were from Gauteng province, the heart of South Africa's economy, where the attacks began on May 11th before spreading to KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.
The spokeswoman said no major attacks had been reported recently in the violence that targeted mainly Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
Competition for housing and jobs combined with soaring food and fuel prices are believed to have been behind the riots. Unemployment in South Africa is around 24 per cent.
At least 50,000 Mozambicans and Zimbabweans have left South Africa as a result of the unrest.