SOUTH AFRICA: CAR BOMB ATTACK INJURES TWO PEOPLE IN CAPE TOWN'S WATERFRONT ENTERTAINMENT AREA

Record ID: 355174

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: CAR BOMB ATTACK INJURES TWO PEOPLE IN CAPE TOWN'S WATERFRONT ENTERTAINMENT AREA
  • Date: 1st January 1999
  • Summary: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (JANUARY 1, 1998) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF DOCKSIDE/ WATERFRONT 0.05 2. VARIOUS EMERGENCY SERVICES AND CROWD LOOKING ON (5 SHOTS) 0.31 3. SLV BURNT OUT CAR IN PARKING AREA 0.35 4. MV POLICE 0.39 5. SLV POLICE SNIFFER DOG SEACHING AREA, CHECKING OTHER CARS 0.45 6. SLV BURNT OUT CAR, SMOKE RISING 0.5
  • Embargoed: 16th January 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3H2GVHJAIADR1GNLN6EMD8Y6
  • Story Text: A car bomb has injured two people at Cape Town's waterfront
    entertainment area, a top South African tourist venue where two people
    were killed in a pipe bomb explosion in August last year.

    The blast occurred between 7 p.m.and 8 p.m.(1700 to
    1800 GMT) on Friday (January 1) in a parking lot opposite the
    waterfront centre, a police spokesman said.

    "The explosion went off in a parking area at the entrance
    to the Victoria and Alfred wharf," police spokesman Jacques
    Wiese told Reuters."It appears to have been a car bomb."
    Wiese said two South African men had been injured -- one
    was being treated for superficial shrapnel wounds and another
    for shock.

    "Nobody has claimed responsibility.We are following
    various leads.But the area has a very good closed circuit
    camera system," he said.

    Eyewitnesses to Friday's blast said the bomb destroyed the
    vehicle in which it was hidden and damaged several other
    nearby vehicles.

    Police cordoned off the area while thousands of onlookers
    flooded the blast scene.

    Police said a tourist standing about 100 metres (yards)
    away from the explosion captured the entire event on video.

    The footage was being studied for clues.

    Witnesses said the car, a white Toyota Corolla, was parked
    near a pedestrian access point.

    Two men were killed and dozens injured, including a family
    of British tourists, on August 25 when a bomb exploded at the
    U.S.Planet Hollywood franchise restaurant in the same
    complex.

    Two callers claiming to belong to a radical Moslem group
    said they planted that bomb in retaliation for U.S.airstrikes
    on targets in Afghanistan and Sudan, but the group's official
    spokesman later denied any involvement.

    Police have failed to charge anybody with the August
    restaurant bombing, but believe it is linked to warfare
    between criminal gangs and Moslem vigilantes, which has
    plagued Cape Town's poverty stricken townships for more than
    two years.

    The latest explosion comes just a week ahead of a visit to
    the city by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, at which local
    Moslem groups have vowed to protest against recent British and
    U.S.strikes against Iraq.

    The waterfront is rated among South Africa's top three
    tourist attractions and hosted Cape Town's packed New Year's
    Eve party on Thursday.

    The blast came at the height of the summer tourist season
    in Cape Town.


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