Two suspected ‘witches’ hacked to death in Tanzania

Two Tanzanian women were hacked to death by men who accused them of casting spells that made them sexually impotent, police said Friday, in the latest killings of alleged “witches.”

The women, one aged in her 80s and her 45-year old daughter, were killed in the village of Ihugi in Tanzania’s northern Shinyanga province late on Tuesday.

Three men slit their throats and then chopped their bodies up, local police chief Justus Kamugisha said, adding that their neighbour was suspected of carrying out the attack after he believed they had made him unable to have sex.

A 40-year-old man, who also accused the women of poisoning his mother last year, has been arrested.

“The victims were attacked as they were about to take their evening meal,” Kamugisha said.

The attack follows the killing last week of seven people in a separate attack in western Tanzania, burned alive in their huts, who were also accused of witchcraft.

Two suspected ‘witches’ hacked to death in Tanzania

Seven accused of witchcraft burned alive in Tanzania | News | Africa | Mail & Guardian

Attackers in Tanzania burned alive seven people they accused of witchcraft, police said Friday, who have arrested 23 people for murder in the latest killings of suspected “witches”.

“They were attacked and burnt to death by a mob of villagers who accused them of engaging in witchcraft,” the police chief for the western Kigoma region, which borders Burundi, Jafari Mohamed, told Agence France-Presse.

“Five of those killed were aged over 60, while the other two were aged over 40,” he added.

Among those arrested on suspicion of carrying out the killings was the local traditional healer, or witchdoctor. Relatives of those killed described horrific scenes, with the bodies of family members hacked with machetes or burned almost beyond recognition. “When I returned home in the evening, I found the body of my mother lying 10 metres away from our house, while the body of my father was burnt inside the house,” said Josephat John, according to Tanzania’s Mwananchi newspaper.

The attack in the village of Murufiti took place on Monday, but reports only emerged after police announced the arrest of the suspects. “We are holding 23 people, including local leaders, in connection with the attack,” Mohamed said. “They will appear in court to face murder charges.”

Belief in witches and black magic remains strong in many parts of Tanzania.

Seven accused of witchcraft burned alive in Tanzania | News | Africa | Mail & Guardian