Harare - At least 50 white Zimbabwean families have pulled out of their farms in the Marondera district in recent days in the face of increasing violence from squatters occupying farms there, farmers said on Sunday.
The Marondera farming area became the flashpoint in the ongoing invasions by war veterans, with the murder on Saturday of one white farmer and the abduction of five others.
"The situation is very frightening," said one farmer's wife, who asked not to be named. "Almost all the farmers want to leave to Marondera town or Harare."
David Stevens was shot dead late on Saturday.
His neighbours Stuart Demill and Ian Hardy, missing for several hours after being taken prisoner by a mob claiming to be war veterans, were found on Sunday afternoon by police and taken to hospital.
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The two were among six white farmers abducted after clashes at a farm belonging to Stevens near the central town of Marondera.
The other three farmers, Steve Krynauw, Gary Luke and John Osborne, were also beaten up and were being treated in Marondera on Sunday.
Another local farmer, Ian Kay, was wounded last week by invaders at his farm.
Tensions have been running high in Zimbabwe following the recent invasions of up to 1 000 white-owned farms by supporters of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, led by veterans of the 1970s war against white rule.
Farmers have complained about the attitude of the police. Demill said he and Hardy had been abducted while the police looked on.
"(The) police did not do a thing," he said.
Tim Henwood, head of the mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said the police did not help the farmers as they were abducted. "The police were either unable or unwilling to do anything about it," he said.
The British Foreign Office on Sunday summoned Zimbabwe's High Commissioner following the killing of Stevens. - Sapa-AFP
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