Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government Thursday broke its silence over details over its controversial Operation Hakudzokwi, where security forces drove out thousands of illegal diamond diggers in the east of the country.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted senior assistant police commissioner Faustino Mazango as saying the police had forced out 35,000 diamond diggers and dealers from Chiadza diamond field about 60 kilometres south of the eastern city of Mutare.

Since the beginning of the year, the field has been inundated with people searching for alluvial diamonds.

The government had said previously that it had mounted a major crackdown involving the army, air force and police to "restore sanity" to the diamond field but did not give details.

The operation was codenamed Operation Hakudzokwi, meaning "you won't come back" in the Shona language.

Before the operation, the area was thronged with men, women and children wildly digging pits with basic implements to get at diamonds lying in the soil.

That some had enriched themselves became evident when low-paid labourers, teachers and even policemen suddenly began driving smart new cars and buying luxury houses.

The operation to end the diamond rush began two months ago, almost totally under the control of the army, according to human rights activists who asked not to be named.

The activists said witnesses reported a number of diamond diggers had been killed and that air force helicopters had fired on them from the air.

Human rights lawyers say the army also clamped down on diamond dealers, confiscating their cars, hard currency and other property, and detaining suspects illegally.

In Thursday's article Mazango warned diamond panners and dealers "of the consequences of wandering into the area under any pretext whatsoever as they will be dealt with ruthlessly and speedily."

Police had arrested 47 alleged dealers from Nigeria, Botswana and Zambia, 18 of whom had been deported, he said. Police had also recovered 441 diamonds, as well as foreign currency, luxury vehicles and firearms, he said.

The Chiadzwa diamond claim belonged to London-based Africa Consolidated Resources, but in January last year, Mugabe's government seized the property, drove off the owners and ignored court orders for its return. (dpa)