Petrol bomb attack on home of top Zimbabwe opposition official

Harare: A petrol bomb hit the home of top Zimbabwe opposition official and former finance minister Tendai Biti Tuesday, a party spokesman said, the second such attack in three years.

"Our secretary general, Tendai Biti told us that his house was attacked early this morning," Douglas Mwonzora, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told AFP, adding the explosion did not injure anyone.

Mwonzora said the petrol bomb hit the security wall of the Harare house and was likely the work of long ruling President Robert Mugabe and his party.

"The attack bears the fingerprints of ZANU-PF," he said.

Police could not comment.

Biti, a lawyer and firebrand critic of Mugabe's economic policies is a powerful official in the MDC.

But he has frequently clashed with the party's leadership.

Mwonzora dismissed suggestions the attack could have been prompted by an internal party dispute over Morgan Tsvangirai's leadership.

"It is clear that this is the work of the enemies of the MDC who want to portray it as a violent party," said 

Last month MDC deputy treasurer, Elton Mangoma was beaten by party youths outside the party's Harvest House headquarters days after he wrote a letter to Tsvangirai advising him to step down.

A MDC youth leader was arrested by police over the weekend charged with the beating.

AFP