At least 24 people were killed and 28 others injured in a giant landslide of garbage inside a trash dump on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a city spokesman told AFP today.

The landslide late Saturday levelled more than 30 makeshift homes of squatters living inside the Koshe landfill, said Dagmawit Moges, head of the city communications bureau.

Many of the victims were squatters, who scavenged for valuables in the dump, he said.

"We expect the number of victims to increase because the landslide covered a relatively large area," he said.

The Koshe site has for more than 40 years been one of the main garbage dumps for Addis Ababa, a rapidly growing city of some four million people.