S. Africa Troops Raid Botswana House, Killing 4

A team of South African commandos crossed into neighboring Botswana early Monday, raiding a home in a suburb of Gaborone, the capital, and killing four people Pretoria described as African National Congress guerrillas.

The South African Defense Force, acknowledging the attack in a statement, said its troops acted on information acquired in a border patrol attack Friday in which three suspected terrorists were killed and a small cache of weapons was seized, including automatic rifles, pistols and hand grenades.

The cross-border raid was the latest indication of Pretoria’s displeasure with its neighbors, which South Africa says allow the African National Congress the use of staging areas for military activities. South Africa has acknowledged at least four other attacks on alleged ANC bases outside its territory in the last two years.

Vow of Pursuit

After a rocket attack on a farm in northern South Africa several weeks ago, government officials repeated a vow to pursue guerrillas into neighboring countries if such action was needed to stop acts of sabotage.

The Botswana raid, and the killing of three alleged terrorists on South African territory near the border a few days earlier, was “further evidence that ANC terrorists, originating from Zambia and Zimbabwe, use Botswana as a transit route to infiltrate into South Africa,” the military command said.

South African troops arrived before dawn Monday in the quiet neighborhood north of Gaborone, less than 10 miles from the border, and after an hourlong gun battle, the house of the four victims was destroyed by fire. The bodies of the victims, who were not identified, were found inside, Botswana authorities said.

Botswana condemned what it called “this dastardly attack and murder of innocent people,” according to a statement issued by the office of Botswana President Quett Masire.

“South Africa’s problems cannot be resolved by attacking neighboring countries such as Botswana,” the statement said, adding that Pretoria should negotiate with the leaders of South Africa’s “oppressed majority.”

Outlawed in 1960

The African National Congress, outlawed here in 1960 and now headquartered in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, has waged war on South Africa’s ruling white minority, using bombs, land mines and other weapons in its effort to end apartheid. The country’s 26 million blacks have no say in the government, which is controlled by 5 million whites.

South African military commanders say the ANC has dozens of small, often independent military units stationed in black-ruled countries of southern Africa, from which it conducts a guerrilla war in South Africa.

Last April, South African troops killed five men in an attack on an alleged ANC weapons store in a Zambian border town.