- NEW: President cuts short a trip to Mozambique to visit the scene of the shooting
- NEW: "This is not time for blaming; this is not the time for finger pointing," official says
- Police say they fired at the striking workers in self-defense
- Lonmin is the world's third-largest platinum producer
Are you affected by the violence? Send photos and stories to CNN iReport.
Rustenburg, South Africa (CNN) -- Police opened fire on thousands of machete-wielding workers on strike at a South African mine, killing more than 30, authorities said Friday, in one of the bloodiest post-apartheid attacks in the nation.
South African police said 34 people were killed and 78 others wounded in the attacks Thursday. The National Union of Mineworkers said 36 were killed.
Authorities arrested 259 people on various charges, including malicious damage to property, armed robbery, illegal gathering and possession of weapons, police Commissioner Riah Phiyega said at a news conference.
A heavy police presence remained on the dusty streets surrounding the Lonmin Marikana mine, which shut down after days of strikes intensified into the bloody violence.
Striking South African miners armed with homemade spears and pangas chant slogans near Marikana platinum mine in Rustenburg, South Africa, on Thursday, August 16. Rising tensions at the mine exploded Thursday in grisly violence as police opened fire on striking miners. 
Striking workers are monitered by police during a sit-in on a hill as they demad a wage increase. 
A police vehicle takes position as miners sit on the hill. 
Armed workers chant slogans outside the mine. 
Workers sit together on strike. 
A policeman fires at the participants of the protest. 
Policemen fire at the striking miners. 
A policeman gestures in front of some of the miners after they were shot. Police have not released a death toll, but a South African Press Association reporter counted 18 corpses. It is feared more could be dead. 
Policemen keep watch over striking miners after they were shot. 
A policeman gestures in front of some of the dead miners. Photos: South African miners killed during strike 
Deadly South African mine clashes 
Bitter mining feud erupts in violence 
South Africa mine killings In the Thursday attacks, police opened fire to disperse a crowd of workers from competing unions who were armed with machetes and spears. The workers have protested for a week to demand higher wages in a fight complicated by tensions between rival worker unions.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters before they opened fire, but the mine workers retaliated by firing back, Phiyega said.
"This is not time for blaming; this is not the time for finger pointing," she said. "It is time for us to mourn."
Before Thursday, at least 10 other people, including two police officers, had been hacked to death in attacks linked to the strikes, according to mine owners Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer.
"We are shocked and dismayed at this senseless violence," South African President Jacob Zuma said. "We believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence."
Zuma cut short a trip to Mozambique to visit the scene of the shooting Friday afternoon.
Witnesses described the scene Thursday as chaotic, making it impossible to determine who fired on whom first.
After the gunfire erupted, blood-stained bodies lay all over a dusty field in a police response reminiscent of the days of apartheid rule, which ended in 1994.
South African police said its members fired in self-defense after the "heavily armed group of illegal gatherers at Lonmin mine" ignored orders to disperse and fired.
They attacked police using various weapons, authorities said.
"Police members had to employ maximum force to defend themselves," Phiyega said.
Production at the world's third-largest platinum producer came to a halt when workers went on strike on August 10 over a wage dispute. The miners, who earn between $300 and $500 a month, are demanding up to $1,500 a month.
The strike has seen two unions duel against each other -- a smaller, radical union and a major workers union with ties to the ruling party. The rivalry between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the National Union of Mineworkers, a close ally of the ruling African National Congress, has escalated tensions.
Protesters have said the latter union's ties to the ruling party threaten their demands.
The unions are battling over mine recognition agreements, the official SABA news agency said.
After the attacks, major national newspapers featured graphic headlines such as "Killing Field" and "Cops go in for kill," accompanied by photographs of dead workers lying in the dust.
The incident is the latest mine violence in the nation this year.
In January, at least three people were killed during a strike at the world's second-largest platinum mine, Impala Platinum.
In that incident, the violence was also blamed on union rivalry. The two implicated unions, accused of trying to outdo each other in negotiating wages, denied instigating the clashes.
CNN's Nkepile Mabuse and Diane McCarthy contributed from South Africa, and Faith Karimi from Atlanta.
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