Black Trainee Killed by Grenade Hurled at S. Africa Police

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A black police officer trainee was killed and 64 were wounded today by a hand grenade hurled at drill squads on a parade ground in the Soweto black township, government officials said.

Unidentified attackers tossed a hand grenade over a security fence onto a parade ground where two rookie squads were drilling, the government’s Bureau for Information said. The attackers drove away in a light truck.

A trainee officer of Soweto’s council police force was killed, and 64 rookie officers were wounded in the blast at the Tledi training base.

Soweto, with a population of about 2 million, is a black satellite city 10 miles southwest of Johannesburg. Soweto municipal police, known as “blackjacks” to many inhabitants, are widely seen as an arm of the white-run central government.