S. Africa Youths Kill 20 on Train in Latest Strife

Youths armed with guns and knives rampaged through a train near Johannesburg, killing at least 20 commuters and wounding dozens more in a bloody surge of black factional violence today, witnesses said.

The attack came in the evening after thousands of refugees had poured out of black townships east of Johannesburg seeking safety from renewed strife that has razed hundreds of homes and pushed the death toll in the sixth week of battles to more than 700.

About six black youths opened fire and hacked out at commuters on a train bound from Johannesburg to satellite black townships, according to radio reports and witnesses.

The witnesses said the dead and injured were strewn on the tracks and described scenes of terror aboard the train, including people jumping from windows for safety.

“It’s a slaughterhouse out there, a bloody slaughterhouse,” paramedic Joe van Wyk said. “It looks like about 25 dead.” Later reports said that the death toll could be slightly lower but that dozens were injured.

Police sealed off the train and launched a massive hunt for the attackers. Dozens of ambulances were summoned from across the city to ferry the injured from staging points near the train to nearby hospitals in and around Johannesburg.