Ipitombi centre #Midrand blown up in well-planned explosion: Midrand market & taxi rank: with strip club, tavern, butchery, clinic, hair salon, gold-exchange dealership 3am June 26 2014
writes Graeme Hosken Explosion so powerful houses up to 2km were shaken: nearby resident Derick Govender said: "It was huge. There was a massive explosion. I thought it was an earth tremor. Neighbours ran into the street. Women and children were crying, car alarms going off. It was chaos." Police were patrolling there at the time. They said two people were injured - one seriously. Police forensic experts and bomb disposal specialists waited for fire and emergency services personnel to secure the scene, hundreds of onlookers gathered behind palisade fences and police cordons. An onlooker asked if Boko Haram had struck. Rubble, bricks and twisted roof sheeting lay scattered across streets, and in neighbouring business complexes burst water pipes leaked into the road. The blast was at the front part of the building near a Standard Bank ATM. It ripped a giant hole through the centre, punching out the back and side walls, collapsing floors and ripping open the roof. Strip-club owner Ozzi Bentcort said 17 years of hard work crashed down in seconds. ""Fortunately none of our staff were injured. The other businesses closed early [on Sunday] and our strip club closed at 9pm."-- Bentcort said he was unsure who the injured were. He said police had been given CCTV footage from cameras at the centre. "There are a few people living on the premises, but I don't know them." A police source said it was too early to say what happened.
"It is total devastation. It will take a considerable amount of time to establish what happened.The CCTV footage will be vital. Hopefully it can shed some light." Police spokesman Captain Disebo Selepe said police were patrolling the area at the time.
"At this stage, nothing can be ruled out. We are investigating allegations that it might have been an ATM bombing."
https://www.facebook.com/116298045063416/photos/a.178568022169751.48293.116298045063416/907976622562217/?type=1&theater
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