South African Attacks Spreading

A mob armed with sticks and bottles descended overnight on a tavern in the port city of Durban believed owned by a foreigner, police said Wednesday.

No one was injured in attack Tuesday night in Durban, police spokeswoman Phindile Radebe said. She said it was not clear yet whether the tavern owner was foreign, and the case was being investigated as "public violence."

Police remained on the scene Wednesday and the area was under control, Radebe said.

It nonetheless raised concerns that the xenophobic violence resulting in more than 20 deaths in and around the commercial capital of Johannesburg in recent weeks could spread elsewhere in South Africa. Johannesburg is about 350 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of Durban.

In Johannesburg, police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said Wednesday that the situation had calmed and the death toll stood at 22.

But there were reports of scattered violence. The victims included a Malawian who said he was beaten up when he tried to return to his shack to gather his belongings in a squatter settlement east of Johannesburg.

Aid groups in the Johannesburg area said as many as 13,000 people had been displaced by the violence, most of it targeting Zimbabweans, Malawians, Mozambicans and other foreigners living alongside South Africans in squatter camps.

South Africa is more prosperous than its neighbors but suffers high unemployment and widespread housing problems, especially among the black majority.