Black Policeman Killed, 70 Hurt in Soweto Attack

A black policeman was killed and 70 were injured when a bomb was lobbed onto a parade ground in South Africa’s biggest black township of Soweto this morning, the government said.

The device was thrown from a passing vehicle as trainee township policemen from all over South Africa were on parade at the Tladi police training centre, the government’s Bureau for Information said.

Ten officers were seriously wounded and 60 suffered slight injuries, it said.

A bureau spokesman said the type of explosive device used was not known and no arrests had been made.

The government has blamed a spate of limpet mine blasts in South African cities in recent months on the outlawed African National Congress (ANC), fighting a low-level guerrilla war against white domination in South Africa.

The municipal police, who perform security duties in black townships, have been a main target of black militants in the past three years of political unrest which has claimed some 2,400 lives.

Many black policemen have been forced to live in compounds on the outskirts of townships after their homes were attacked.

Today’s attack, one of the most daring since a national state of emergency was declared last June, came as police and troops deployed at railway stations to stop attacks on trains linked to a bitter strike by black transport workers.

Foreign Minister Pik Botha has alleged that the ANC is planning a campaign of violence in the run-up to the whites-only general election next month. Security is a major election issue, with extreme right-wingers accusing the government of being soft in the face of a “revolutionary onslaught.”

Botha warned neighbouring black-ruled states not to allow the guerrillas to infiltrate South Africa through their territory. He said South Africa would not hesitate to take action to thwart the alleged offensive.

Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe denied Botha’s charges and said they were a pretext for South African attacks on them. Pretoria has raided alleged ANC bases in the so-called Frontline states in the past.