S. African Gunmen Kill 8, Wound 23
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Gunmen opened fire Monday on hundreds of people waiting in the predawn cold to apply for factory jobs, killing eight and wounding 23.
About seven men armed with assault rifles and handguns walked up to the crowd outside the N F Die Casting factory and opened fire, Police Supt. Wikus Weber said, citing witnesses. The attackers and almost all the people waiting outside the factory in Alberton, southeast of Johannesburg, were black.
The gunmen fled in the dark, police said.
President Nelson Mandela’s ruling African National Congress said the shootings might have been politically motivated and aimed at undermining peace efforts in volatile KwaZulu-Natal province, at the other end of the country.
An official of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, however, said the violence might have been linked to a factory plan to create more jobs and reduce overtime for existing workers.
But some of those hoping for jobs said the gunmen simply wanted to clear away competition.
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