Six sought over Soweto bombings

All six men face charges of treason and terrorism

South African police have released the names of six men they want to question in relation to a series of bombings in the Soweto township last month.

One thing is for sure, we will get them

Police chief Jachie Selebie

The men, Jan Gouws, Gerhardus Visagie, Herman van Rooyen and brothers Kobus, Johan and Wilhelm Pretorius, all face charges of high treason, terrorism and sabotage, said South African police chief Jackie Selebie.

All six men are believed to have links with a group of Afrikaner right-wing extremists known as Boeremag, or Farmers Force, whose leader, Thomas Vogel Vorster, was arrested last month.

"We are working around the clock to find these people," Mr Selebie told the South African Sunday Times newspaper.

"One thing is for sure, we will get them."

'Race war'

Nine bombs went off around the sprawling township on 30 October, killing a woman and seriously injuring her husband as they slept in their shack yards from one of the devices.

About two million people live in sprawling Soweto

A mosque was also severely damaged and several railway lines between Soweto and Johannesburg destroyed - an act which caused commuter chaos.

South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said last week that he suspected the men were former members of the army and police attempting to start a "race war".

"It certainly does not represent the majority of Afrikaners... but a residue within the South African National Defence Force [SANDF] and the South African Police Service," he said.

Extremist group

Mr Vorster was arrested in a joint operation by US and South African authorities after he went to the US consulate to try to renew his Green Card, the South African Sunday Times reported.

Another 19 members of the organisation have been arrested since August on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the South African Government.

They are due to face trial next year.

The Soweto bombings were the worst such attacks since the first all-race elections in 1994.