Blast Injures 25 in S. Africa Port City Restaurant
A bomb exploded today in a downtown fast-food restaurant crowded with lunch-hour patrons in the east coast port city of East London, injuring at least 25 people, police and witnesses said.
A police spokesman in East London, 500 miles south of Johannesburg, said the bomb exploded at a Wimpy Bar restaurant on Oxford Street, the main downtown thoroughfare.
The spokesman said at least 25 people were wounded, some seriously.
Bombs planted in restaurants and busy shopping malls have killed at least 12 people and injured about 150 this year. Restaurants in the Wimpy Bar chain have been targets of bombs four times in the past two years.
Witnesses told the Daily Dispatch newspaper that the wounded were screaming inside the wrecked restaurant moments after the bomb exploded about 1:30 p.m.
The blast scattered glass and wreckage along the sidewalk and into the busy street, they said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
