Eleven people have been arrested in Limpopo province after an attack on foreigners, the first sign of racist violence spreading to the northernmost province.

Police said Friday a Mozambican man was stabbed and assaulted in the attack on the homes of immigrants.

“It is alleged that a group of people approached quarters rented by foreigners and pelted the rooms with stones,” provincial police spokeswoman Superintendent Ronel Otto said in a statement.

“They broke down the doors and entered the rooms, demanding money. A 28-year-old man from Mozambique was assaulted and stabbed with a knife in the shoulder."

Otto said the suspects, who also set fire to three rooms, had been arrested for attempted murder, armed robbery and malicious damage to property.

This is the first incident of anti-immigrant violence sweeping the country, to occur in Limpopo, leaving only two of the country’s provinces, the Eastern and Northern Cape, unaffected.

Otto said 81 foreigners from Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, were being housed in safety at the local police station.

At least 42 have been killed, more than 500 arrested and 16,000 displaced in the province of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, since unrest broke out 12 days ago.

AFP