Woolworths has increased vigilance at its stores nationwide after improvised explosive devices were detonated at its Menlyn Park and Preller Square branches.
An explosives expert has warned that the two improvised explosive devices detonated at Woolworths stores in Pretoria and Bloemfontein were “possibly lethal”, despite no injuries being reported.
Willem Els, a former SAPS explosives investigator and now a consultant with the Institute for Security Studies’ transnational threats and organised crime programme, said the incidents appeared to bear the hallmarks of a possible extortion campaign aimed at pressuring the retailer.
"A bomb is a bomb. It will always be dangerous even if no one was hurt," Els said.
The first explosion took place in the early hours of Thursday, May 28, at Woolworths Menlyn Park in Pretoria. The second happened less than 24 hours later, in the early hours of Friday, May 29, at the Woolworths Preller Square branch in Bloemfontein.
