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Bridge damaged by blast

[South Africa] Durban Harbour. IRIN
The blast was in a remote area several hundred kilometers south of the port city of Durban, but caused jitters countrywide
    JOHANNESBURG

    Another bomb exploded in South Africa, this time on a bridge on the picturesque "Wild Coast" south of the port capital Durban early on Thursday morning.

    Nobody was injured in the blast on the Umtamvuma bridge, but it has been closed for engineers to assess the damage to two supporting pillars.

    The bridge linked the provinces of KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, and was about 1-km away from a casino resort and a popular tourist area.

    In October one person was killed when nine explosions rocked Soweto, outside Johannesburg, and another two people were injured in a blast in a temple in the town of Bronkorstspruit, east of Johannesburg, on the same day.

    Earlier this month a bomb exploded in police offices in the Western Cape, and a few days later there was another blast, this time in a building housing the police airwing in an airport between Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.

    Although right wing extremists were blamed for the Soweto blasts, police spokeswoman Director Sally De Beer told IRIN that police would not speculate on who was behind the Umtamvuma bridge bomb. Forensics experts were still sifting through the debris searching for clues, she said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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