Arusha blast: IGP launches nationwide suspect manhunt

BY DAVID KISANGA

17th June 2013

Inspector General of Police Said Mwema briefs the media in Dar es Salaam yesterday on action taken by police following bomb blast at Chadema campaign rally in Arusha.(Photo: Selemani Mpochi)

After the deadly bomb attack at a Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) rally in Arusha City on Saturday, the IGP says police will conduct a special countrywide operation aimed at arresting individuals behind the attack as well as thosefinancing terrorist activities.
The incident happened when a bomb was lobbed into the middle of a well attended meeting at the Soweto suburban in Arusha City when Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe was about to wind it up.

Briefing journalists on the steps taken by the police, Inspector General Police Said Mwema said he has formed a task force that is heading to the place of incident in Arusha to speed up the investigation.

 

IGP Mwema said that the team comprises two commissioners and is led by Operations and Training Officer Paul Chagonja and Issaya Mngulu from the Department of Investigation.

 

So far two people are reported dead and sixty eight injured, he confirmed.

“The police condemn the incident that seems to be an act of terrorism and one that has caused fears among the residents of Arusha City,” he said, adding that they will do everything possible to ensure that they put in their hands those behind the ugly incident.

 

IGP Mwema said that the incident is an act of terrorism perpetrated by some few people or a group which does not want peace to prevail in the country.

 

The IGP said that he will inform members of the public on the work of the investigation team and other security organs as they progress.

 

He said that some residents in the area where the incident took place gave them information and they are cooperating with them in a move to establish the suspect.

 

“I would like to take this opportunity to caution that the police are well organised to deals with these criminals who want to tarnish the image of this beautiful country,” he said.

 

IGP Mwema added that it will also deal with those who may in one way or another cause chaos in the continuing by election taking place in some vacant constituencies. 

 

The Guardian on Sunday couldn’t get any of Chadema’s leaders for comment – and none of them was available as their phones were switched off.

 

 This is the second time Arusha city has been rocked by terrorist attacks within one month.

 

Last month, the Vatican ambassador to Tanzania, Archbishop Franscisco Padilla, was at a Roman Catholic church in Arusha -- which had just been built and was holding its first mass -- when the church was bombed in what police called a terrorist attack.

 

Two people died and 30 others were injured in the first significant such raid on Tanzania's Christian community at worship.

 

 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN