Zimbabwean police have arrested at least 70 suspects following attacks on liberation war veterans and ruling-party activists in a village in the south-western Buhera district, a state daily reported on Monday.
”So far more than 70 suspects have been arrested in connection with the cases and are still in police custody,” police Deputy Commissioner General Levy Sibanda was quoted as saying by the Herald while visiting the victims in the Buhera constituency.
”We are here to assess the situation and to find ways on how best peace can prevail in this area. We are solving the problem to ensure that people live in peace.”
Six veterans of the 1970s liberation war and officials from President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party were injured following attacks by unidentified people last week.
Violence broke out in mostly rural parts of Zimbabwe following the announcement of the parliamentary results from general elections on March 29, which saw Zanu-PF lose its majority for the first time in 28 years.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims at least 50 of its supporters have been killed, hundreds injured and at least 25 000 displaced in retributive attacks in the aftermath of the polls.
The ruling party blames the violence on the MDC and Mugabe, who faces MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a presidential run-off on June 27, described the violence as ”barbaric”. — Sapa-AFP