Two camps housing refugees from the political violence in Zimbabwe came under armed attack in the early hours of yesterday only days after their occupants were removed from foreign embassies with government guarantees for their safety.

Up to 20 masked men, armed with shotguns and knives, burst into the Ruwa rehabilitation centre east of Harare, clubbing men, women and children with gun butts as they slept in the squash courts of the old military base.

At the same time, another armed gang invaded a camp at Gokwe, north of Harare, where other families targeted in the state-sponsored violence had been sheltering.

Tangai Takarusa, a spokesman for the Ruwa group, said that eight people had been hospitalised for their injuries, while fourteen others, all young men on sentry duty at the camp’s perimeter, were missing. It was unclear whether they had fled or been taken from their posts. Human rights officials said several deaths had been reported in the Gokwe attack, but they were unable to confirm details.

The people sheltering at the camps arrived there over the past two weeks after an odyssey spent seeking shelter from the violence in the run-up to the June 27 presidential run-off election.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the key targets of the state-sponsored campaign, reported yesterday that the violence was far from over, with at least 20 killings since the election, bringing the death toll to 109 since March.

“We are like sitting ducks. We have nowhere to go,” Mr Takarusa told The Times. “If we have no place in Zimbabwe, then somebody can take us to Mars, maybe we will be safe there.”

The Ruwa group, 47 of them children, came together early last month in Harvest House, the Movement for Democratic Change’s headquarters in Harare, after fleeing violence following Mr Mugabe’s shock defeat in the first-round March 29 presidential elections. Days before the June 27 run-off, however, police raided the building on the grounds of health and safety, vowing to rehouse 500 people living there. Most escaped on a tip-off and moved quietly on to the South African Embassy car park, pleading for protection.

After several days without food, water, sanitation or shelter, the South Africans organised aid. But a week later, evidently under pressure from the Zimbabwe Government, staff persuaded the refugees to go with the Ministry of Social Welfare to the Ruwa camp, saying their safety was assured.

Some of that group left Ruwa later to seek sanctuary at the US Embassy in Harare, where they were seen camping outside on the street as July 4 celebrations were in full swing.

Early on Monday the Ruwa refugees were asleep on the floor of a disused squash court when men in military fatigues and balaclavas forced their way in and attacked the men. At least two women fought off attempted rapes.

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