MAPUTO, June 2, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Five Mozambicans were killed in "xenophobic attacks" in South Africa at the weekend, the Mozambican government said, in the first deaths officially linked to protests against illegal migrants sweeping the country.

Around 800 Mozambican nationals were caught up in the violence that broke out in the southern coastal city of Mossel Bay on Friday, the government press office said in a statement received on Tuesday.

"Regrettably, seven Mozambican citizens have died, five of them as a direct consequence of the xenophobic attacks and the other two as a result of a road accident, when they were travelling in a private vehicle on their way back to Mozambique," said the statement.

The violence prompted 300 Mozambicans to return to their country by their own means on Saturday, said the statement, issued late Monday.

"The remaining just over 500 have since been sheltered in a safe location in the Western Cape Province, and as of today, 1 June, the process of their repatriation to Mozambique is already underway," it said.

South African police said on Sunday they were investigating the deaths of two men at an informal settlement in Mossel Bay, a port town about 380 kilometres (236 miles) east of Cape Town where xenophobic attacks had been reported.

They did not say whether the deaths were linked to the protests. It was also not immediately clear what nationalities the two men were.

But the area mayor, Dirk Kotze, voiced "deep concern and dismay at the current xenophobic attacks where people have been murdered, houses burned and families displaced".

The region has seen anti-migrant protests similar to those reported in financial capital Johannesburg, Durban and parts of the Eastern Cape province in recent weeks.

South Africa has faced recurring waves of xenophobic violence since 2008, when dozens of migrants were killed and thousands displaced in attacks across the country.

Similar flare-ups occurred in 2015 and again in 2021, often sparked by economic frustrations and political mobilisation around anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The latest spike in anti-immigrant tensions comes as political parties seek support ahead of local government elections in November.