Bomb causes little damage in South African airport

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Reuters) -- A bomb placed in a rubbish bin exploded outside the international departures hall at Cape Town airport on Tuesday, but police said there were no injuries and little damage.

"The device was in a refuse bin right outside international departures. There were no injuries and there does not appear to have been much damage," police spokeswoman Esther Kotze told Reuters by telephone.

Police had initially said that the bomb was in a car parked opposite the airport's police station, located midway between the international and domestic departures halls.

A Reuters photographer on the scene said the police had closed off the area about 100 meters around the center of the explosion. There was no sign of serious damage apart from a few items that appeared to be debris.

"You can see what looks like a little bit of blast blackening on some concrete plant pots, but not much else," photographer Mike Hutchings said.

A spokeswoman for the Airports Company of South Africa said there had been no disruption to flight operations, but traffic around the area was snarled as police sealed off approach roads.

"All flights are operating as normal," the ACSA spokeswoman said by telephone.

The bomb was the second to have gone off in the city in just under two months. A blast outside a popular restaurant at the end of May was generally believed to have been set by a protection racket.

That explosion ended a five- month period of peace after bombs in November and December that shattered a gay bar and a beach front pizza parlour and damaged another restaurant, causing many serious injuries but killing no one.

No one has claimed responsibility for or been charged with causing any of those explosions.

Cape Town made international headlines in 1998 with a series of bomb explosions, most notably at the U.S. franchised Planet Hollywood restaurant.

Police blamed Moslem vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs for most of the explosions, but the group has denied responsibility.

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