Zanu party office firebombed in Zimbabwe

One person has been killed in Zimbabwe in a firebomb attack on a ruling party office in the capital Harare, authorities said today.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said about 50 opposition supporters hurling petrol bombs had attacked the building yesterday.

He accused the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change of trying to cause instability ahead of next month’s cricket World Cup matches.

The MDC denied any involvement in the attack.

“The chances are it was an inside job to tarnish the image of the MDC,” MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said.

A ruling party supporter inside the office died from severe burns. Seven other people were injured and two were said to be in a critical condition.

Yesterday’s attack and the firebombing of a bus last week that was also blamed on the opposition “are now part of a new (opposition) strategy,” Bvudzijena said.

“It will induce a sense of shock and some confusion in the population,” he said.

The state-run Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece, meanwhile reported that 2,000 bullets and 25 bayonets had been discovered on a farm south of the capital.

It was suspected that the weapons would be used “to cause anarchy in the country ahead of the cricket games,” the newspaper said.

Bvudzijena said ammunition and bayonets had been found, but said links to the cricket matches “could be speculation”.

Zimbabwe is hosting six World Cup cricket matches beginning on February 10 amid criticism over security in the troubled southern African nation.

The MDC and other groups opposed to the fixtures involving Zimbabwe, England, Australia, India, Namibia, the Netherlands, and Pakistan say they will stage peaceful protests against the matches.

They argue that the games will be used to lend credibility to dictatorial President Robert Mugabe’s government.

An eight-man unit of police armed with automatic rifles is already guarding the cricket ground at the Harare Sports Club after threats that opponents might damage the pitch.

Zimbabwe is wracked with political chaos and is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980. Corn meal, bread, milk, sugar and other commodities are scarce, leaving long lines of shoppers waiting outside shops. Many leave empty-handed.