Car Bomb Injures 2 in Cape Town

A car bomb exploded Friday in a parking lot of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, one of South Africa’s major tourist attractions. Two passersby were slightly hurt.

It was the second bomb attack at the waterfront--where restaurants, bars, shops, hotels and an aquarium are located--in less than five months.

Police sealed off the outdoor parking lot, about 100 yards from a shopping mall at the waterfront, while search dogs sniffed other cars to make sure there were no other explosives in the area.

The Toyota Corolla that apparently contained the bomb was destroyed in the blast, which also heavily damaged several nearby cars. Smoke was still rising from the site an hour after the blast, and shards of debris were scattered on the pavement.

Thousands of people were at the waterfront’s bars and restaurants when the bomb went off at 6:55 p.m.

“We have been very, very lucky that this was not more serious,” police Capt. Jacques Wiese said.

One of the injured men was treated for superficial shrapnel wounds and the other for shock, Wiese said.

Police Capt. Anine de Beer said a woman who was videotaping at the time captured the explosion, and police were hopeful that the tape would aid in their investigation, the South African Press Assn. reported.

Police said it was too early to speculate on who is behind the car bombing at the height of the summer tourist season.

On Aug. 25, a bomb exploded inside a Planet Hollywood restaurant at the waterfront, killing two people and injuring 26.

There have been no arrests in that attack. A caller to a radio station claimed responsibility for it on behalf of a Muslim group, but the group later disavowed any part in it.

The latest explosion came a week before a planned visit to the city by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Muslim groups have vowed to protest then against the U.S. and British airstrikes on Iraq.