SOUTH African soldiers and police have conducted a series of raids in an effort to curb attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of shops.

Men’s hostels in Johannesburg, housing mainly South Africans, were searched for weapons and 11 arrests were made.

The army was ordered to deploy to volatile areas to stop further attacks that began about three weeks ago.

At least seven people have been killed and 5,000 have been left homeless since the xenophobic violence began.

The army was also deployed during similar violence in 2008, when at least 63 people were killed.

The first deployments were to Alexandra, a poor township north of Johannesburg, where a Mozambican, Emmanuel Sithole, was killed at the weekend.
The hostels are communal areas still owned by the government that used to house mine labourers during the days of White-minority rul