MARIKANA, South Africa - Rising tensions at a South African platinum mine exploded Thursday in grisly violence as police opened fire on striking miners.Blood-stained bodies lay strewn about a field in a police response reminiscent of the ugly days of apartheid.
Police have not released a death toll, but a South African Press Association reporter counted 18 corpses. It's feared more could be dead.
- Witnesses described the scene as chaotic, making it seemingly impossible to determine who started firing on whom first.
- The South African Police Service, though, issued a statement late Thursday indicating its members trying to "disarm and disperse a heavily armed group of illegal gatherers at Lonmin mine" when they were fired upon.
Police fired tear gas and then used a water cannon to disperse the strikers congregating atop a hill. The mine workers retaliated by firing at police, and a storm of gunfire lasted about three minutes, E-TV said.The situation remained tense Thursday night after what was the deadliest day in almost a week of violence at the Markinana mines.
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