Explosion rips through Planet
Hollywood in South Africa

Group calls it retaliation

In this story:

'We thought we were
safe here'
City is a tourist venue

August 25, 1998
Web posted at: 6:11 p.m. EDT (2211 GMT)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNN) -- An explosion ripped
through a Planet Hollywood restaurant packed with diners
Tuesday evening, killing two people and injuring at least
24.

The number of confirmed injured was likely to rise to
between 25 and 30 people, said Police Senior
Superintendent John Sterrenberg said. Details on the
victims were not known.

Police said the explosion was caused by a device planted in
or thrown into the restaurant.

A group calling itself Muslims Against Global Oppression
claimed responsibility for the bombing in a telephone call to a
local radio correspondent. The same group burned an American
flag during President Bill Clinton's visit to South Africa in
March, calling him a "killer."

Cape Talk correspondent Marian
Merton told Reuters a man phoned her claiming the blast
was in retaliation for the U.S. attacks last week on
suspected terrorist strongholds in Sudan and Afghanistan.

'We thought we were safe here'

Ambulances and firefighters rushed to the dockside
building housing the restaurant in the trendy Victoria and
Albert waterfront in Cape Town.

Police cordoned off the restaurant and were reinforced with
armored cars.

"It's a shame," said onlooker Patty McGoughran, of
Washington, D.C., who was on business in South Africa
installing computers. "It's such a beautiful place, and
this is appalling. We are scared after things like
Nairobi. But we thought we were safe here."

Bobby Brown, a radio reporter who went to the scene, said
witnesses said the blast appeared to come from the
restaurant's kitchen.

Rescue officials set up a type of field hospital outside the
building, he said. "I did see at least one person that was
taken away with the bottom half of their legs blown off," he
said.

City is a tourist venue

No damage was visible from the outside, and Sterrenberg
said he did not know where in the restaurant the explosion
occurred.

Another witness, Joe Kroukam, said he and a partner were
having dinner in a section that was not badly damaged.

"We were sitting having supper, and we heard a loud bang
behind us. Then debris was falling down on our plates, and
I turned round, and I saw all these people lying around with
limbs missing. It was terrible," he said.

Kroukam said diners who were not hurt helped carry
the injured from the restaurant to the pavement
outside.

Cape Town is one of South
Africa's most popular tourist venues and attracts
millions of people each year. It has a small Muslim population.

The city has been hit recently by a spate of violence
involving a group purportedly trying to stop the drug trade
that involves the city's gangsters.

The group, called People Against Drugs and Gangsterism,
is suspected of being behind a series of bomb attacks
against suspected drug dealers.