Knife-Wielding Blacks Stab 9 Whites Near S. Africa Beach

A group of blacks stole knives from a store and went on a rampage today, stabbing nine whites on a busy street near the beachfront of this Indian Ocean city, witnesses and officials said.

Police said they had no motive for the attack, which seriously injured six of the victims. Despite deep racial divisions and widespread violence in South Africa, there have been few cases of blacks randomly attacking whites.

About 5,000 blacks have been killed in factional fighting since 1986 in Natal province, which includes Durban. But the violence has been almost exclusively in black areas.

Patrick Lekota, a spokesman for the African National Congress, said the attack “was a desperate attempt to discredit the liberation movement as a whole.”

“They were in a berserk state and were lashing out with knives at anyone who was near them,” witness Robert Trulock told the independent South African Press Assn.

Five suspects were arrested, including two who were shot and wounded by police, the report said.

The gang of between 10 and 20 young men took the knives from a store specializing in weapons from the Far East, police said. The men then ran down a street next to the beachfront, assaulting whites at random, witnesses said.

Bleeding victims staggered into the lobby of the Lonsdale Hotel and collapsed in front of horrified guests.

Nine whites suffered stab wounds and were admitted to nearby Addington Hospital.