Zimbabwe Strife Claims 2 Lives, Officials Say
Two people were killed and scores injured in the continuing political violence raging across Zimbabwe ahead of parliamentary elections, police and independent monitors said Tuesday.
Since February, the violence has killed at least 26 people, most of them opposition supporters attacked by ruling party thugs.
Police on Tuesday reported the death of a ruling party campaign manager who was shot in a dispute with suspected supporters of another ruling party official.
Messiah Kufandaedza was shot Saturday near Marondera, 45 miles southeast of Harare, the capital, police said.
He died Sunday, police said, adding that one suspect was arrested.
Police also reported the death Monday of a man in the Honde Valley district near Zimbabwe’s eastern border. Neighbors said the man was forced to sing ruling party slogans before being beaten.
Also Tuesday, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, said the police appeared to be becoming more active in enforcing law and order since self-styled veterans of the 1970s independence war began to invade white-owned farms in February.
The group said police Monday evicted war veterans from a farm in eastern Zimbabwe owned by Roy Bennett, a high-profile MDC parliamentary candidate.
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