| Salisbury Woolworths bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Rhodesian Bush War | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 17°50′9.3″S31°2′26.8″E / 17.835917°S 31.040778°E |
| 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) [1] [2] [3] |
| Defenders | British South Africa Police (BSAP) |
On 6 August 1977, during the Rhodesian Bush War, a Woolworths store in Salisbury, Rhodesia (today Harare, Zimbabwe) was bombed by nationalist forces. [1] [2] [3] 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. [4]
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. [5] The perpetrators, two teachers, afterwards escaped to Mozambique. [6]
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. [5] Rhodesian black nationalist leaders Bishop Abel Muzorewa and the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole also condemned the attack. [4]