Police station bombed in eastern Zimbabwe

Police station bombed in eastern Zimbabwe

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By Lebo Nkatazo

A PETROL bomb ravaged a police station in Zimbabwe's eastern border town of Mutare on Friday as political temperatures continue to rise in the crisis-hit country.

A timber cabin, dockets, police bicycles and other police property were destroyed as a fire consumed Sakubva police station, police confirmed.

Chief police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said there were no injuries, adding that police were investigating.

“We are still carrying out investigations in connection with that incident. We are following some leads,” Bvudzijena said.

The attack on the police station follows a spate of similar attacks which the police have previously blamed on opposition supporters.

Three female police officers suffered serious burns when petrol bombs and teargas canisters were hurled into their house inside the Marimba Park police station yard in Harare, and days later the Mkoba police station was in flames following another attack.

Police said they had identified the Marimba Park bombers, but no arrests have been made so far. The police are keen to find the source of the teargas canisters used in the attacks amid fears they may have been smuggled into the country.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) denies any involvement in the violence which follows the arrest of its senior leaders in a police crackdown. The party's two faction leaders, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, were detained with 48 others after police crushed a planned rally two weeks ago.

Tsvangirai and several other officials were severely beaten in police custody and sustained serious injuries.

Police sources told New Zimbabwe.com that a false report of political violence was lodged with the Sakubva police station resulting in all the officers except two leaving the station.

A bomb was then planted in the station with a string, several meters long, attached to it, said the source.

“The string was dipped in paraffin and what the culprits did was to set that string on fire. The fire traveled all the way to the petrol bomb leading to its explosion,” a police source said.

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