Share this on:

Mixx Digg Facebook del.icio.us reddit StumbleUpon MySpace

U.N. human rights chief condemns 'vicious' killings

Story Highlights
Somali woman, 3 children beaten and stabbed to death in South Africa
Attack was "apparently simply because they were foreigners," official says
Three suspects have been arrested
Next Article in World »

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The U.N. human rights chief on Tuesday condemned the brutal slaying of a Somali woman and her three children in South Africa as a xenophobic attack.

"This is one of the most vicious examples we have heard of recently," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay said of the killing Friday in an Eastern Cape village.

The Somali woman, Sahra Omar Farah, her two teenage sons and her 12-year-old daughter were stabbed and beaten to death "apparently simply because they were foreigners," Pillay said in a statement.

"Ms. Farah was reported to have been stabbed over 100 times," she said. "Initial signs suggest that both female victims may have been subjected to sexual assaults."

Pillay, a South African lawyer, combatted apartheid and defended its opponents when the country was white-ruled.

Xenophobic violence against refugees and other foreigners across South Africa in May left 62 people dead and forced thousands from their homes.

"There appears to be a dangerous pattern of targeted attacks on foreigners, especially, but not exclusively, involving Somalis," Pillay said.

She welcomed the arrest of three suspects in the slaying but urged the country's authorities to take quick measures to protect immigrants and refugees from further attacks.

Pillay's comments came as South African police reported Tuesday that about 200 people looted shops owned by Somalis in Jeffreys Bay, in far southeastern South Africa, after the alleged rape of a 4-year-old girl.

One person was shot and injured, and four police vehicles were damaged before calm was restored, the South African Press Association reported.

E-mail to a friend