Soweto, South Africa ? Explosions that killed one person, damaged a mosque and ripped up railway lines in this poor township rekindled fears Wednesday that right-wing extremists were trying to destabilize South Africa’s multiracial government.

Authorities said they were investigating whether there was a link between the nine bombings in Soweto and the recent arrests of white men accused of plotting a coup.

“Whoever manufactured … the bombs and placed them are experts,” Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said.

While not assigning blame for the bombings, President Thabo Mbeki said “right-wing groups have intended to conduct a campaign of this kind” to create a political climate that would lead to the overthrow of the post-apartheid government.

Describing the extremists as a “small group, with small explosives and some guns,” Mbeki said they cannot succeed.

“They will certainly fail, and we will make sure they cause as little damage as possible,” he said in Cape Town.

No one had claimed responsibility for the bombings and no arrests were made, police said.

Former President F.W. De Klerk, the last white leader of South Africa, called the attacks outrageous and said all South Africans should condemn them.

Police look at the damage caused by an explosion at a mosque in Soweto, South Africa. A series of bombs Wednesday rocked the black township, killing one person, ripping a hole in the mosque and damaging several railway station and lines.

“We should not allow a tiny minority of fanatics to interfere with our determination to promote reconciliation and to build a strong united and peaceful South African nation,” De Klerk said.

The first bomb ripped through a wall at a Soweto mosque at 11:55 p.m. Tuesday, beginning a nearly two-hour frenzy of explosions.

Soon after midnight, four more bombs blew up near a railway station, police said. A pair of bombs exploded at another station, and two more went off on a third rail line.

Claudina Mokane, 42, was killed as she slept when debris from one blast hit her shack hundreds of yards away, police said. Her husband, Simon Sikwati, 51, sustained head injuries.

The explosions severely damaged several rail lines in Soweto, and cast a pall of fear and uncertainty over the black township of about 1.5 million people south of Johannesburg.

“Whoever is responsible for this … is going to face the full might of the law,” Nqakula said.

A 10th bomb was found wired to a clock at a gasoline station and defused by a bomb disposal unit, police said. “Had it exploded it would have caused maximum damage given the fact we have fuel at the filling station,” Nqakula said.

National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi said residents reported two white men acting suspiciously near the gasoline station before the homemade bomb was found.

“We think we know who did this,” Selebi told Parliament. “We think that the people who did this wanted to send a message.”

Police fanned out across the township Wednesday and began searching public places. Roads all over the township were closed as forensic experts searched for evidence.

“People are shocked. We had believed we were living in peace,” said the Rev. Sephapo Sephapo, whose church is near the damaged mosque. “We are suspicious it might be the beginning, and what might be next?” he said.

In recent weeks, police have discovered several weapons caches, including homemade bombs, and arrested 15 people accused of involvement in a plot by white extremists to overthrow the government.

The men, whom police described as a “maverick, isolated group intending to destabilize the country,” are scheduled to go on trial next year. Authorities say the ringleaders remain at large.