12 S. African Blacks, 7 of Them Children, Slain

Attackers gunned down 12 blacks, seven of them children, in an assault early today on a home in a black township south of Durban, authorities said.

The assailants burst into the house of Willie Ntuli, 50, and opened fire on the occupants with AK-47 assault rifles about 2 a.m., said Maj. Charl du Toit, the Durban police spokesman.

Ntuli and 11 others who were in the house were killed, including six children aged between 3 and 7 and another who was 17, Du Toit said. Two other people were wounded.

Only one person escaped unhurt, a 10-year-old boy who evaded the attackers by hiding in a closet. Four of his brothers and sisters were killed.

Rival Group Accused

Members of the United Democratic Front, the nation’s largest legal anti-apartheid coalition, accused Inkatha, a political and tribal organization led by Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, of staging the attack against the home of a UDF member. The groups differ over how to oppose apartheid.

The attack in Kwa-Makhuta township near Amanzimtoti, 15 miles south of Durban, was one of the worst reported incidents of violence in South Africa in months.

More than 2,200 people have been killed in political unrest since September, 1984.

Du Toit said officials initially reported incorrectly that the attackers firebombed Ntuli’s house and then shot the victims as they fled.

Police Seek Attackers

Police with tracker dogs scoured the area around the house, which was sealed off and under guard, residents said.

Kwa-Makhuta and other townships in Natal province have been wracked by fighting between Inkatha and the United Democratic Front.

Ntuli’s son, Victor, is a leading member of a UDF affiliate, according to Joseph Gumbi, a coalition official. Victor Ntuli probably was the main target but he went into hiding last week and was not at home during the attack, Gumbi said.

Buthelezi said in a statement that the killings were “probably a continuation of the internecine clashes” between rival black groups. He said he was “shocked by the dimensions which the violence . . . is assuming.”

The front and the African National Congress, an outlawed guerrilla group, criticize Buthelezi for his willingness to work within structures created by the South African government. Buthelezi is a critic of apartheid but differs with the two groups on how to oppose it.