White Radicals Arrested in S. Africa Bombings

Under pressure to stem a mounting terror campaign, police arrested five white members of far-right militant groups Monday in connection with a wave of at least 32 bombings in the last two months.

The most recent attack, late Sunday night, destroyed a day-care center for black children in Warmbad, a right-wing stronghold north of Pretoria. A powerful bomb blew the roof off, destroyed windows and furniture and damaged surrounding buildings and homes, police said. The center was unoccupied at the time.

Previous targets have included offices and homes of the black-led African National Congress, railway lines and electric pylons. Most are in rural areas or small farming towns in the Western Transvaal and Orange Free State, where armed white extremists have vowed to use violence to sabotage the nation’s transition to democratic elections and black majority rule.

Craig Cotze, spokesman for the Ministry of Law and Order, called the pre-dawn arrests of the five men in the archconservative towns of Orkney and Welkom “the first real breakthrough we’ve had” and promised more arrests.

But he warned “We shouldn’t be under any illusion this is going to end the terror campaign. It may disrupt it, but we’ll see. We’re running hot on the trail at this point.”

During the arrest in Orkney, police said, one of the men fired a shotgun at police. An officer was hit in the chest but was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Under South African law, the five may be held 48 hours before charges are filed. Cotze declined to release the suspects’ names or those of their organizations.

Carl Niehaus, spokesman for the ANC, said the arrests were welcome but overdue. “After 32 bombings, it’s taken long enough,” he said. “There’s never been much doubt who was responsible.”

Niehaus said the ANC was forced to send out special security teams to protect campaign sound trucks and other gear because of right-wing threats.

But Law and Order Minister Hernus Kriel insisted that the ANC was unfairly blaming the police. “These arrests, and many others before them, explode the myth cultivated by Mr. (Nelson) Mandela and the African National Congress that the South African police is soft on right-wing terrorism,” he said.

Police suspect right-wingers are using the bombs to try to intimidate the ANC and their supporters in the run-up to the April 26-28 elections. The far right hopes either to derail the elections or to win the right to create a self-ruled white homeland.

Police also announced the arrests of seven people, including five suspected members of a black militant organization who allegedly fired 70 shots with assault rifles into a swimming pool filled with white children in Richards Bay, in Natal province.