South African police raided scores of farms and other homes today in a crackdown on white right-wingers suspected of the worst string of bombings since majority black rule in 1994.
Bombings over the past month have set race relations on edge and raised fears of a new chapter of violence in the "Rainbow Nation" after a right-wing group threatened a Christmas terror offensive.
Police spokeswoman Ms Sally de Beer said 94 farms and other homes were being searched across the country, and a number of people had been arrested for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition as well as other offences.
"It's a continuation of the broader investigation into the plot to overthrow the government and the bombings," she said.
A spate of bombings on October 30th which killed one woman in the black township of Soweto has been linked to a white rightist plot to overthrow the black-led government, which has vowed to foil the plot.
"For as long as mad rightwingers threaten our peace, we will ensure that they rue the day they were born," local news agency SAPA quoted Intelligence Minister Mr Lindiwe Sisulu saying at a ceremony today honouring officers killed while on duty.
South African media reported that among those arrested today was Mrs Gaye Derby-Lewis, wife of white extremist Mr Clive Derby-Lewis who planned the killing of black liberation leader Chris Hani in 1993.
Hani was leader of the country's Communist Party and was seen as a potential successor to Nelson Mandela. De Beer could not confirm the arrest report.