Grenade blasts in Salisbury

Press, 22 July 1976, Page 8

Grenade blasts in Salisbury

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury I .•v g-enade blasts in the! centre of Salisbury have] brought home to metropoli-i tan Rhodesians the guerrilla; war until now raging on the 1 borders. The police would not say] that the blasts — two min-1 utes apart, at a crowded res-' taurant and a nightclub a mile away — were definitely the work of guerrillas. But a senior police official said they could certainlv be cal'ed terrorism. For the citizens of Salisbury, the fear was that this might mark the start of urban guerrilla warfare. This compact city of 120,000 whites is surrounded by black townships.

The first grenade was tossed through a window of the Pink Panther steakhouse just before 8.30 on Tuesday night. It landed amid 30 diners, but only one, Mr Andrew Craig, was badly injured. The woman owner of [the restaurant, Miss Ola Bordulak, suffered a slight leg wound. The second explosion was outside the La Boheme I nightclub , which was just ■filling up for the evening’s . entertainment. It went off (under the car of the club’s stripper. "Zilla.” The car was damaged, and ■some of the club windows broke, but nobody was hurt i and business went on as (usual. .

The police immediately sealed off both areas and Ibegan searching for the i bombers. No arrests have | been reported. ; The police said -It was ■ thought the same type of granade had been used in both blasts. The nightclub [was the target of a grenade (attack 18 months ago in which several persons were injured.

Both the nightclub and the restaurant are ostensibly multi-racial, open to any blacks who can afford to dine there.

The police are investigating a report that a black man was seen running away from the nightclub soon_after the explosion.