Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
Tigershoot (talk | contribs) Removed unsourced claim re Rhodesians being responsible for massacre. Patently nonsense and a poor attempt to shift blame for the massacre. |
||
Line 32:
ZIPRA leader [[Joshua Nkomo]] publicly claimed responsibility for shooting down the ''Hunyani'' on [[BBC]] television the same evening, saying the aircraft had been used for military purposes. He denied that his men had killed any survivors on the ground. The majority of Rhodesians, both black and white,<ref name=nyarota62/> saw the attack as an act of [[terrorism]].<ref name=freeman/> A fierce white Rhodesian backlash followed against perceived enemies, with many whites becoming violently resentful and suspicious of blacks in general, even though few black Rhodesians supported attacks of this kind.<ref name=nyarota62/> Reports viewing the attack negatively appeared in international journals such as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, but there was almost no acknowledgement of it by overseas governments, much to the Rhodesian government's indignation.
Talks between Nkomo and Prime Minister [[Ian Smith]], which had been progressing promisingly, were immediately suspended by the furious Rhodesians, with Smith calling Nkomo a "monster".<ref name=moorcraft154/> On 10 September, Smith announced the extension of [[martial law]] over selected areas. The [[Rhodesian Security Forces]] launched several retaliatory strikes into Zambia and Mozambique over the following months, attacking both ZIPRA and its rival, the [[Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army]]. The attack on ZIPRA in particular brought great controversy as many of those killed were [[refugee]]s camping in and around guerrilla positions
{{TOC limit|2}}
| |||