Blast reported near Pretoria

South African Justice Minister Penuell Maduna has just confirmed that a tenth blast had been reported in Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria.

”We have just been told now, that there has been another blast in Bronkhorstspruit at a temple. Police are investigating it and we will report if it is linked” (to the Soweto bombings) said Maduna.

Nine bombs exploded on Soweto railway lines during the night, killing one woman.

Maduna announced the latest development at a press conference in Protea South, Soweto, that was also attended by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula and Intelligence Minister Dr Lindiwe Sisulu.

Sisulu cautioned against speculation as to who was responsible for the blasts, as this ”could endanger the lives of ordinary people”.

”We will be working around the clock to solve this. We are asking the media not to speculate. We have dealt with a problem of this nature in the Western Cape,” said Sisulu.

At the press conference Maduna said that if caught, the bombers could face life imprisonment.

According to Johannesburg police representative Director Henriette Bester, the explosive device that killed a Protea South women on Wednesday morning had been placed under the railway line near the women?s shack where she lay sleeping with her husband and two young daughters.

Bester said the explosion left a 30 centimetre-deep, one metre-wide hole and sent a mass of twisted metal hurtling into the shack about 500 metres away, killing the 42-year-old woman.

Police have not yet released the dead woman’s name. Her 51-year-old husband was seriously injured by debris and was admitted to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital. Their two daughters, aged 16 and 10, escaped unhurt.

Bester said no-one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, that have cut rail access between Soweto and Johannesburg. Police bomb disposal units at the explosion scenes have not yet said what type of explosives were used. A press conference has been scheduled for later this morning.

Police said an ”improvised” explosive device was found at a petrol station on the Old Potch Road in the Dlamini suburb and was defused by the bomb disposal unit.

The first explosion was at five minutes to midnight last night and ripped through a mosque in Dlamini. A wall was extensively damaged. Four explosions followed shortly afterwards on the railway track about 400 metres from the New Canada Railway station.

Then, two bombs exploded at the Midway railway station and two on the Lenasia railway lines.

Police had sealed off the roads around the mosque on Wednesday morning. – Sapa, M&G Online reporter

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