S. Africa Raids 3 Neighboring Black Nations

South African warplanes, helicopters and commandos raided the black-ruled nations of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia before dawn today, leaving at least three people dead in the widest-ranging strikes yet against suspected bases of opposition African National Congress guerrillas.

The United States and Britain condemned the attacks, and a British Commonwealth peace mission in South Africa seeking to reconcile the aspirations of the black majority and the white rulers cut short its visit in protest.

Political observers called the timing of the attacks incredible and said the strikes, coming barely a month after the U.S. air raids on suspected terrorist bases in Libya, prove that hawks control South African policy.

The raids followed discovery of the biggest guerrilla arms cache in South African history, and struck targets in or near Gaborone, Botswana, 200 miles west of Johannesburg; Harare, Zimbabwe, 600 miles north, and Lusaka, Zambia, 800 miles north.

Witnesses in Gaborone said one Botswana government worker was killed and another person was injured when heavily armed helicopter-borne South African commandos stormed a village five miles outside the capital.

2 Killed in Refugee Camp

Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda told a press conference that two people, a Zambian and a refugee from Namibia, were killed and as many as 10 other people wounded in an air strike on a refugee camp outside Lusaka.

He said that the raid was a “dastardly, cowardly action” inspired by the U.S. air attack on Libya last month and that his government is reconsidering its membership in the British Commonwealth.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Robert Mugabe vowed to step up aid to African nationalist guerrillas and strengthen his own army. He said that four people suspected of involvement in the raid were arrested and that several others were injured.

South Africa attacked two targets in Harare, a house and an office building, both of which it said were bases of the African National Congress guerrillas, who are fighting to topple white-minority rule in South Africa.

The South African Air Force and Defense Force said in separate statements that the targets were ANC operational centers and terrorist transit facilities.

12 Killed in 1985 Raid

It was the first South African raid on Zambia and the Zimbabwe capital of Harare and the second in less than a year on Gaborone, where 12 people were killed in a South African attack last June on suspected ANC safehouses.

Today’s attacks were the first time South African forces crossed their borders to strike at ANC guerrillas in more than one country and were the largest ever against the black nationalists.

The raid on Lusaka came as a group of retired Western statesmen, led by former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, were believed to be in the city for talks with the ANC. They were not injured.