Police, army raid Jeppestown hostel

Johannesburg - The police and army raided the Jeppestown hostel on Tuesday night searching for weapons, Gauteng police said.

"The whole national team are here. The national commissioner as well," spokesperson Lieutenant Kay Makhubela said.

Images from the hostel broadcast by eNCA showed dozens of men lined up in the passages wearing nothing but boxer shorts, their arms raised, palms pressed to the walls, as soldiers searched their beds and lockers.

The raid follows an undertaking by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula earlier on Tuesday that the army would be sent into areas countrywide where xenophobic violence had flared up.

Seven people have been killed during the violence in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in the past week.

According to an eNCA reporter a machete, a small axe, and several knives were found.

Makhubela said shortly before midnight that no arrests had been made.