A high-profile detective team appointed to investigate the 10 bomb blasts in Gauteng on Wednesday, were following up several leads and information, police said on Thursday.
Director Henriette Bester said she had spoken to the
co-ordinator of the task team on Thursday morning but that no person or organisation could yet be linked to the blasts.
It was established that ammonium nitrate, an explosive commonly used in the mining industry, was used to manufacture the bombs. The task team comprises experts from different units, Bester
said, and included the forensic laboratory, serious and violent crimes unit, intelligence service and units investigating crimes against the state.
Bester could not say exactly how many policemen were
investigating the blasts, but said that the number assigned to the task team was ”adequate”.
Meanwhile only one stretch of railway line between Crown and New Canada stations in Soweto was still closed on Thursday morning, Metrorail said.
Lillian Mofokeng from the organisation said one of the blasts caused extensive damage to a bridge over the railway line between the two stations and repairs only started late on Wednesday afternoon. Ten
buses were being used to ferry commuters between Crown and New Canada, she said.
All the other lines that were damaged in the blasts were open by late Wednesday afternoon. She said the damage caused amounted to around R2-million.
Security was increased at railway stations around the province and Mofokeng said they hoped that this, together with their partnership with police, would ensure the safety of passengers.
She said not all security guards were armed, but all had a means of communication if they saw something suspicious.
Reaction to the blasts in Soweto and at a Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria continued to pour in on Thursday.
Late on Wednesday night the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (AEB) strongly condemned the series of explosions and attempts by radical elements to overthrow the state through violent means.
”The solution to South Africa’s problems must be sought through constitutional and political means,” AEB leader Cassie Aucmp said in a statement.
”A return to the spiral of violence of the past will simply place the country and its people in deep misery.”
He said it was the party’s view that so-called ”violent right-wing resistance” was an isolated phenomenon carried out by a limited circle of fanatics who lacked any real power base.
The Methodist Church also condemned the blasts.
”We offer our deep condolences to the family of the woman who lost her life in this senseless act of terror and our sadness to all those who have suffered trauma and damage to their property,” Bishop Paul Verryn of the district of the Methodist Church in
Soweto said in a statement issued on Thursday.
He expressed the church’s solidarity with the Muslim community after one of the bombs exploded at mosque in Dhlamini. However, Verryn warned against ”rumour mongering”.
”We would want to encourage communities in Soweto to guard against the prejudice that rumour mongering in a context as fragile as this can engender and also to be particularly careful, vigilant and alert to situations of potential violence.” – Sapa