Please tell me, what does rake mean?

I always hear on the news about women especially young ones being raked. And i do not know what this means does it mean when you attack someone with a rake, i do not think so because that sounds odd and I do not think such attacks would be so widespread. I also heard a while ago in Africa (The congo I think) a whole village was raked and they all got aids and i dont think they have rakes in Africa so it cant mean attacks with a rake. Please help me I want to learn.