Pretoria – Cabinet has joined President Jacob Zuma and the international community in strongly condemning the recent terrorist attacks that took place in Beirut (Lebanon), Baghdad (Iraq), Yola (Nigeria) and Paris (France), which resulted in the loss of innocent lives and the destruction of property.
“South Africa stands firm in its condemnation of all attacks targeting innocent civilians and reiterates its stance that terrorism, in whatever form and from whichever quarter, cannot be condoned,” said Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Jeff Radebe at a media briefing in Cape Town.
Last week in Paris, more than 120 people were killed during the attacks carried out by the Islamic State (IS) group.
In Nigeria, 34 people were killed and another 80 people were wounded in Yola, a town packed with refugees from Nigeria's Islamic uprising. On Wednesday, two more suicide bombers killed at least 15 people in the northern city of Kano and injured 53.
The blasts are suspected to have been carried out by Boko Haram, Nigeria's extremists whose six-year insurgency has killed about 20 000 people and forced 2.3 million to flee their homes.
Last Thursday in Beirut, a pair of suicide bombings struck southern Beirut killing 43 people and leaving shattered glass and blood on the streets.
On Sunday in Baghdad, a string of blasts killed at least seven people and injured 15 others.
Two attacks in central Baghdad left three dead, while an improvised explosive device and a car bomb killed two soldiers and two civilians, south of the centre of the Iraqi capital. – SAnews.gov.za
