4 Afghan, Pakistani farm workers murdered in Italy; 2 suspects arrested

Italian police arrested two people accused in the deaths of four migrant (three Afghans and one Pakistani) farm workers who were burned alive in a car, a gruesome attack captured on video surveillance cameras, police and news reports said.

The vehicle was found at a petrol station near the village of Amendolara in a farming area in the Calabria region.

According to the video, which was broadcast on RAI state television and other Italian media, assailants poured liquid into the back of the car and set it ablaze as it was parked at a gas station in Amendolara, near Cosenza in the southern Calabria region, RAI said.

One of the apparent assailants was then seen trying to keep the doors of the car closed. One man escaped from the car and was treated for burns at a nearby hospital, RAI said.

Another Afghan man quoted by Italian media said he survived the killings by smashing a window and running away.

He said the Pakistanis who were arrested had been threatening him and the others with knives and guns and forcing them to work without pay.

CCTV images from the petrol station showed two people blocking the van's doors from the outside and throwing liquid inside, the Corriere della Sera daily reported, citing law enforcement sources.

The images showed a fire breaking out and the two people running away, the report said.

Firefighters found the bodies inside after putting out the fire.

Castrovillari Prosecutor Alessandro D’Alessio confirmed in a statement that the bodies of four people were found dead in a car on Monday in Amendolara and that two people had been detained in connection with their deaths.

RAI said the dead were three Afghans and a Pakistani national, and that the two men arrested were Pakistani. RAI said the victims were migrant farm workers.

Earlier reports had said all four victims were from Pakistan. "This is definitely murder, we just have to work out the details," local police chief Antonio Borelli was quoted by Corriere as saying.

The paper said there had been 14 cases of arson involving cars and minivans carrying Pakistanis in recent months in the area, where there are tensions between migrants over the division of farm work and residency papers and accommodation.

Agencies