S. African Forces Raid Black Township

More than 1,600 soldiers and policemen conducted a security sweep Saturday in the troubled black township of Alexandra. They erected roadblocks, searched homes and passed out pamphlets urging residents to inform on troublemakers.

In a daylong operation, the security forces sealed off the township on the northeast edge of Johannesburg and searched vehicles and pedestrians.

Police said 18 people were arrested, mostly for possession of drugs or stolen property. A local journalist said police confiscated cars, cameras, televisions and other items in an effort to determine whether they had been stolen.

Police, meanwhile, reported three deaths related to racial violence across the country Saturday, including a black man who was shot by the mayor of the black community of Port Alford, near Port Elizabeth. Police said the mayor opened fire after he was stabbed three times by members of a mob that attacked his house.

The burned bodies of two black men were found elsewhere in the Port Elizabeth region.

More than 1,550 people, almost all blacks, have been slain in the violence since September, 1984. Most were killed in clashes with security forces, but other black victims have included policemen and local officials suspected of collaborating with the white government who were slain by anti-apartheid militants.