OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mbabane | Sunday
POLICE in Swaziland are hunting a serial sex killer – or killers – after discovering 24 bodies in shallow graves in the tiny mountain kingdom in southern Africa.
Radio and the Times of Swaziland said the bodies, most of them women, and apparently raped, had been found over the past few weeks.
The latest 13 bodies – those of 11 women and two children – were discovered in a commercial forest in the central Malkerns area this week, they reported. The other bodies had been found nearby.
Police said a number of used condoms had been found near some of the bodies. One of two senior police officers heading the probe said the bodies were naked and had their hands tied.
“This indicates that it may be the same person or people who are doing this thing,” he told the Times of Swaziland.
It was not immediately clear when the killings took place. The latest bodies were reported to be skeletons, but insects can strip flesh from bodies very fast in Africa.
Some of the bodies had been thrown into ditches, then covered up.
Two weeks ago, police shot dead a man originally from the centre of the country, Bongani Zilakati, who police said was linked with at least three of the bodies discovered earlier.
They described him as a loner, adding the some of the corpses had been discovered near his parents’ compound.
It was unclear, the police said, whether he was linked with the latest bodies discovered.
The Times of Swaziland reported that relatives of missing women were flocking to the area to see if they were among the dead. – AFP