Explosions rock South African township

A series of bomb blasts rocked the poor South African township of Soweto early today, killing one person, ripping a hole in a mosque and damaging several railway stations and rail lines running into the nearby city of Johannesburg.

By this morning, nine bombs had exploded, and police said they had disabled another one.

“We all pray that there won’t be any more,” police spokeswoman Henriette Bester said. “It’s daylight now, and the darkness shielded whoever had been responsible for this.”

Police fanned out across the massive township and began searching public places, including schools, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.

“The kinds of explosive used cannot be determined at this stage. It is unknown who is responsible, no one is claiming responsibility and no arrests have been made,” Ms Bester said.

Police were pursuing several leads, she added.

South Africa’s Radio 702 said police were investigating whether far-right militant groups were responsible.

The first bomb exploded at around 11.55pm local time last night, ripping a hole in a mosque, Ms Bester said.

Soon after midnight, four more bombs blew up at a railway station. A pair of bombs exploded at another rail line, and another pair at a third line.

A 42-year-old woman was killed as she slept when debris from one blast hit her squatter shack, police said. The woman’s 51-year-old husband sustained head injuries and was in a serious but stable condition.

A 10th bomb was found at a nearby garage and diffused by a bomb disposal unit.

Local and national law enforcement officials held an emergency meeting in Soweto to discuss the situation.

The explosions had severely damaged several local rail lines, shrouding the morning commute in confusion.

Rail authorities planned to run shuttle buses for commuters.

The opposition Democratic Alliance condemned the blasts as “cowardly and outrageous acts of pathetic and hopeless people”.

“We urge all Johannesburg’s citizens to unite in rejection of this violence,” it said.