Lost Weekend

Pretoria blast kills 17

Like government workers around the world, civil servants in South Africa's administrative capital of Pretoria try to get an early start on the weekend. By 4 o'clock last Friday, the streets near the South African air force headquarters were crowded with black commuters waiting for rides out of the city and white shoppers doing last minute errands on their way home. Suddenly, at 4:28 p.m., a blue Alfa Romeo parked in front of the Nedbank Square shopping arcade exploded, ripping through the building like a can opener and flattening parking meters and lampposts. The blast, thought to be the worst incident of urban terrorism in South African history, killed at least 17 people and injured almost 200 others. Said a stunned eyewitness: "The whole scene, with dead and dying in the street, looked like a battlefield."

In a grim announcement to Parliament, Defense Minister General Magnus Malan described the bombing as "a cowardly deed in the Communist war being waged against South Africa." At week's end no organization had claimed responsibility for the explosion, but South African officials blamed the outlawed African National Congress (A.N.C.), an antiapartheid group that has launched such attacks on urban centers. In the past, the A.N.C. has chosen symbolic targets of white rule, such as police stations and government buildings, but has apparently tried to avoid the random killing of civilians.

The Pretoria bombing was certain to stiffen white opposition to sharing power. Some South Africans even suspected that the attack might have been the work of an extreme right-wing group intent on sabotaging Prime Minister P.W. Botha's efforts to introduce constitutional reforms that would give limited voting rights to Asians and coloreds. Malan warned the nation to be on guard for more urban violence. Said he: "War does not start and finish at the country's borders." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.