South Africa Sends Troops to Johannesburg Suburb After Foreigners Attacked

South Africa sent troops into Kya Sand, a suburb of Johannesburg, to prevent an escalation in recent attacks that may have targeted foreigners, police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said.

The deployment of army and police reinforcements came after 10 people were arrested for assaulting and robbing 11 people, six of whom were Zimbabwean or Mozambican, Mariemuthoo said by phone from Johannesburg today. Three of the victims needed hospital treatment, he said.

“We’re not saying it’s xenophobia, because South Africans were also victims there,” Mariemuthoo said. “We’re treating it as criminal acts.”

After human rights groups reported threats against foreigners living in South Africa toward the end of the soccer World Cup on July 11, the government has sought to quell fears of a repeat of xenophobic violence that left more than 60 people dead in May 2008.

To contact the reporters on this story: Franz Wild in Johannesburg at fwild@bloomberg.net.

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