| Salisbury Woolworths bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Rhodesian Bush War | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 17°50′9.3″S 31°2′26.8″E / 17.835917°S 31.040778°E / -17.835917; 31.040778 |
| Date | 6 August 1977 Shortly before 12:00 (Central Africa Time) |
| Attack type | Bombing |
| Deaths | 11 |
| Injured | 76 |
| Perpetrators | Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) |
| Defenders | British South Africa Police (BSAP) |
| Rhodesian Bush War | |
|---|---|
First Phase (1964–1972)
Second Phase (1972–1979)
Related incidents |
On 6 August 1977, during the Rhodesian Bush War, a Woolworths store in Salisbury, Rhodesia (today Harare, Zimbabwe) was bombed by nationalist forces. Eleven civilians were killed and 76 were injured. Of those killed, eight were black Rhodesians, including two pregnant women and a young boy, and three were whites, members of a single family, Gillian and Donald Mayor and their mother. Mr Mayor and another daughter, Wendy, were seated in a car outside when the bomb went off.
The bomb, comprising about 75 pounds (34 kg) of high explosives, was planted in an area where customers checked packages in before shopping on the upper floor of the two-storey building. It detonated shortly before the crowded store was to close at noon that Saturday. The perpetrators, two teachers, afterwards escaped to Mozambique.
Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Prime Minister, expressed horror at the bombing. "Those who have perpetrated this barbarous outrage can hardly be described as human," he said. Rhodesian black nationalist leaders Bishop Abel Muzorewa and the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole also condemned the attack.
References
- ^ Abbott & Botham 1986, p. 12.
- ^ Chung 2006, p. 238.
- ^ Cilliers 1984, p. 43.
- ^ The Bryan Times newspaper report on the attack, 8 August 1977 accessed 7 September 2014
- ^ Lakeland Ledger newspaper report on the attack, 7 August 1977 accessed 7 September 2014
- Moorcraft & McLaughlin 2008, p. 81.
- Bibliography
- Abbott, Peter; Botham, Philip (1986). Modern African Wars: Rhodesia, 1965–80. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85045-728-5.
- Chung, Fay (2006). Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute. ISBN 978-9171065513.
- Cilliers, Jakkie (1984). Counter-Insurgency in Rhodesia. London, Sydney & Dover, New Hampshire: Croom Helm. ISBN 978-0-7099-3412-7.
- Moorcraft, Paul L; McLaughlin, Peter (2008) . The Rhodesian War: A Military History. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-84415-694-8.
External links
Categories:- 1977 building bombings
- 1977 in Rhodesia
- Attacks on shops in Africa
- Mass murder in 1977
- Rhodesian Bush War
- Terrorism in Rhodesia
- Massacres in Rhodesia
- Communist terrorism
- August 1977 events in Africa
- 20th century in Harare
- Building bombings in Africa
- Terrorist incidents in Zimbabwe
- Terrorist incidents in Africa in 1977
- 20th-century mass murder in Africa