2 S. Africans Die in Clash With Police

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse rock-throwing crowds in a black township today after an explosion set the town council building on fire. Two blacks were reported killed.

Many residents of black townships oppose the local councils and consider council members collaborators with the white-led government.

Police said it was not known if the fatalities in the township of Khayelitsha were caused by police. But witnesses said the two were killed when officers opened fire on residents who tried to stage a march.

Authorities closed off the main roads leading into Khayelitsha, the largest black township outside Cape Town.

Tension has been high in Khayelitsha since last week’s slaying of Momsa Mapongwana, the wife of an anti-apartheid leader in the township.

According to a police statement, violence broke out shortly before midnight Wednesday in Khayelitsha when an explosion started a fire at the town council building. Police said the blast could have been caused by a limpet mine.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but police said township residents then began hurling stones at police officers, who fired back with tear gas and rubber bullets.

This morning, police said they had found the bodies of two men but were unable to determine how they died.

Witnesses, however, said both were killed when officers fired rubber bullets, tear gas and birdshot to stop a crowd of about 800 to 1,000 people from marching to the council offices.

They said police declared the march illegal and gave people a minute to disperse. Some marchers began walking toward police with their hands up, making peace symbols with their fingers, and police began shooting, the witnesses alleged. They said one person was injured.

Police said two officers were hurt in the clash.