Durban - Police in South Africa on Wednesday revised the number of people killed in apparent xenophobic violence in the port city of Durban on the weekend from three to two.

Reports Tuesday had said three foreign nationals had been killed when a mob of 150 armed people stormed an apartment building inhabited by migrants from other parts of Africa. Those targeted were forced to jump from windows of the building in Albert Park.

Police said a Zimbabwean and a Tanzanian fell to their deaths, while a 23-year-old Mozambican, initially reported dead, had survived the fall and was in a critical condition in hospital.

Politicians in KwaZulu-Natal province where Durban is located on Wednesday denied that the attacks were xenophobic, saying the mob had targeted criminals.

"Opportunists were beginning to paint a picture that it was xenophobia but it was not," Albert Park councillor Vusi Khoza was quoted as saying in a report by the South African Press Association (SAPA).

Foreigners in the area however disputed this, saying no South African criminals were targeted at the weekend.

"Why are they only coming to buildings where foreigners live? Why when they enter do they shout 'amakwerekwere'?, Omar Osman, the chairman of the International Refugee Service, told SAPA.

Locals use the derogatory term "amakwerekwere" to refer to immigrants from other parts of Africa. In May, 60 African migrants were killed and around 100,000 displaced in a wave of xenophobic attacks across South Africa. Local mobs accused them of committing crime and taking job opportunities away from South Africans. (dpa)