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attack on Somali refugees

Article one:
The growing number of brutal attacks on the Somali community in the Western Cape has forced the local police to admit that xenophobia, and not criminality, is the main motivating factor in the attacks.


Article two:
GUNMEN have claimed the life of yet another Somali in the city.



Article three

MASIPHUMELELE, South Africa -- The mob announced itself the night of Aug. 28 with a terrifying clatter of stones against the tin walls of Hadith Haji Adam Osman's tiny shop. As he cowered inside, watching one window and then the other shatter from the onslaught, Osman recalled, the young men waved machetes in the air and shouted: "Baraka hamba! Baraka hamba!"

In the slang of this township on the rocky, ragged foothills of Cape Town, "Baraka" is the word for Somali shopkeepers such as Osman, 26, who have traveled thousands of miles from their war-ravaged homeland in search of peace and prosperity in South Africa. And "hamba," a word from the dominant Xhosa language here, means "Go away!"

Article four
Two more Somalis have been murdered in Cape Town, bringing the number killed recently in the Western Cape to 30.

A Somali man was shot dead in Delft at about 1pm on Sunday while the second victim was stabbed to death in Du Noon, Milnerton, on Saturday.

The attacks came two days after a 25-year-old Somali was fatally stabbed, also in Du Noon.

"A murder case is being investigated and we hope to effect an arrest soon," said police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana on Sunday.

He could not confirm Sunday's Delft shooting.

The city's Somali community feels that a "war" is being waged against them.


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