S. African Commandos Kill 9 in Border Raid, Lesotho Says
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MASERU, Lesotho — State-controlled Lesotho radio said South African commandos using silencer-fitted guns raided two homes in Maseru early today and killed nine people, some of them South African political refugees.
The South African military denied that it raided this tiny, independent, black-ruled kingdom, which is ringed entirely by South Africa. “We categorically deny these allegations. We were not involved,” army spokesman Commandant John Rolt said in Pretoria.
The Lesotho Liberation Army, a shadowy rebel group that sometimes carries out attacks, took responsibility for the raid in a telephone call to the South African Press Assn. in Johannesburg.
The Lesotho government says the rebels are backed by and operate from South Africa.
Neighbors said seven people, four black men and three black women, were among guests at a party at one home and were shot to death in another house in Hoohlo township, about 300 yards from the South African border.
They said two others, a white woman and her mixed-race husband--South Africans Jacqueline and Joe Quinn--were fatally wounded in their apartment in a middle-class neighborhood.
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