A man injured in the blast lies in hospital yesterday. PHOTO by Zephania Ubwani
Blast kills one, injures 60 in Arusha
By Zephania Ubwani
Posted Monday, May 6 2013 at 01:00
Posted Monday, May 6 2013 at 01:00
In Summary
Attack executed as Vatican Ambassador to Tanzania,
Francisco Padilla was about to inaugurate a Catholic church at Olasiti on the
outskirts of the city.Monitor correspondent
Arusha.
One worshipper was killed and 60 others injured after an explosive that went off during a church ceremony in Arusha, Tanzania yesterday.
Tanzanian Inspector General of Police Said Mwema rushed to the northern city to oversee investigations into the incident. Shock, panic and desperation gripped Arusha following the attack, which was executed as Vatican Ambassador to Tanzania Francisco Padilla, who was accompanied by Archbishop of Arusha Josphat Lebulu, was about to inaugurate a Catholic church at Olasiti on the outskirts of the city.
The attack happened despite a heavy security presence in the area and the Police spokesperson, Mr Advera Senso, declined to comment, saying it was too early to give any meaningful appraisal of the incident. “We appeal for calm and urge people to cooperate with the police. More information will be released in due course as we advance in our investigations. IGP Mwema has travelled to Arusha to oversee the investigations,” Ms Senso said when The Citizen, our sister paper, contacted her in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
For his part, Arusha regional police commander Liberatus Sabbas said a manhunt for the attackers was underway and that one person was already being questioned. Fear was rife in the city as news of the inexplicable crime against innocent worshipers spread across the country as other Christians attended Sunday service elsewhere. Hundreds at the interrupted Olasiti church ceremony ran in all directions for safety.
Eye witnesses said the attack took place at around 10:40am as parish members and other Roman Catholic believers converged at the main door to witness the opening ceremony. Just as the Vatican envoy, who was the official guest, was about to cut the tape to let the believers get into the newly-completed church building, there was a huge explosion in the middle of the crowd. Mr Khalifa Mshana, a cameraman with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), who was covering the function, said the ‘bomb’ exploded only a few metres from the Vatican envoy.
Eye witness attack
“A choir was entertaining the crowd as the church leaders solemnly moved forward to witness the cutting of the tape; suddenly, there was a huge blast behind me.” This is the first attack on a church in the northern zone since houses of worship started to be targets of what are being viewed as acts of terrorism in Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Kigoma in the past year.
In Mogadishu, at least 15 persons died when a vehicle assumed to have been packed with explosives blasted on Sunday at KM4 Roundabout, a vital road link between Mogadishu’s Adenb Abdulle International Airport and Villa Somalia, the state house in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the suicide bomber targeted a vehicle belonging to the Minister for Interior Affairs and Security Abdikarim Hussein Guled that was passing next to Cinema Equatore, a former movie house. However, the minister was not in the vehicle at the time. The police has always warned the general public on terror threats by the al-shabaab.
