Zanzibar violence flares ahead of island's elections

Political flared with mobs attacking political opposition members' offices and homes in Zanzibar, leaving at least 17 people injured, as the island prepares for elections this year, police and opposition leaders said.

Four offices belonging to the opposition Civic United Front were burned to the ground late Sunday night and another mob attacked the home of the party's leader, setting two vehicles on fire, party spokesman Salim Bimani said Monday.

Two the injured were admitted to the Mnazi Mmoja National Hospital's intensive care unit in critical condition, he said. The destroyed vehicles belonged to two bodyguards who fought off the mob that attacked front leader Seif Shariff Hamad's home.

The attacks were in the western section of the town of Zanzibar, where members of both the opposition and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party live. The Zanzibar Electoral Commission plans to begin registering voters in the area next month.

General are scheduled for Oct. 23 in Zanzibar, a semiautonomous archipelago off the coast of Tanzania. The last elections, in 2000, were marred by violence and irregularities.

Politics Zanzibar also have a religious dimension. The ruling party is based on the largely Christian mainland Tanzania, while the Zanzibar-based Civic United Front is largely Muslim. More than 90 percent of Zanzibaris are Muslim.

Political religious tensions on Zanzibar, home to about one million people, have only grown since the 2000 election.

The recent trouble started Sunday night when both parties held rallies less than 1km from one another. When the two rallies ended, supporters provoked one another, and soon stones, knives and spears were hurled through the air, witnesses said.