Mozambique said Tuesday that five of its citizens were killed in "xenophobic attacks" in South Africa over the weekend and efforts were underway to repatriate hundreds more.
The South African police, however, only confirmed two Mozambicans had died in violence in the southern coastal town of Mossel Bay, the first killings to be officially linked to a new wave of anti-migrant protests sweeping the country.
A South African teenager was also killed, police said, with reports that dozens of shacks were torched, some while people were still in them.
Protests against undocumented foreign nationals have been mounting in South Africa in recent weeks, leading Ghana to evacuate around 300 of its citizens last week, with Nigeria also announcing repatriations.
The Mozambique government's media office said in a statement late Monday that seven Mozambican citizens died after violence broke out Friday in Mossel Bay, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) east of Cape Town.
