Opposition lawmaker Job Sikhala said 50 Zimbabwean soldiers arrived at his home early Monday and beat him and his family with chains after trying to question him about next year's presidential campaign.
Three armored cars drove over the fence around his home at about 4:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), Sikhala told AFP by telephone from the hospital where he was receiving treatment for his wounds.
The soldiers broke down the doors and said they had orders to kill him if he did not answer their questions, the MP said.
"We have orders to extract this information from you, or kill you," Sikhala said, recalling the soldiers' words.
The soldiers asked him about the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai's presidential strategies, and asked if the MDC had sent youths to Finland to receive military training, Sikhala said.
"I told them frankly, I am not the presidential candidate. If you want to know about the campaign, you can ask Morgan Tsvangirai," he said.
"Then they started to beat me with chains and gun butts, and they were very serious," Sikhala said.
As the soldiers chased him through the house, Sikhala said they slipped on his floor and he managed to escape by jumping over his neighbor's fence and hiding in a bathroom.
The soldiers also beat Sikhala's wife, who is three months pregnant, his sister, and their housekeeper, he said.
Government officials were not immediately reachable for comment.
Police had accused Sikhala of inciting violence during the January 13-14 parliamentary by-election in the remote district of Bikita-West, but his case was remanded until March 28.
The MDC became Zimbabwe's first significant opposition party in June, when it won nearly half the contested seats in legislative elections.
The elections were marred by widespread political violence in which at least 34 people died and thousands more beaten.
The MDC has challenged the results of the June elections in 40 constituencies, where they say electoral fraud, violence and intimidation of voters compromised the returns -- HARARE (AFP)
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