16th June 2013
According to eyewitnesses, the bomb was lobbed in the middle of a huge crowd that attended the public rally. The terror attack occurred at around 6pm -- just at the time when Chadema National Chairman Freeman Mbowe was about to wind up his meeting.
It was not clear who threw the bomb but sources said it looked and sounded similar to the bomb that was thrown about two months ago at the Olasiti Roman Catholic Church in the same region.
Eyewitnesses said the bomb exploded just as Mbowe was concluding his speech, causing panic among hundreds of people who had gathered for a peaceful campaign meeting.
A source at the Seliani Hospital last night confirmed to have received at least 70 casualties. It is claimed that after the blast, the police who were guarding the rally panicked, and started firing in the air at random, a situation that caused more chaos.
However, The Guardian on Sunday could not independently verify this claim.
“It was chaotic … many people were running about to save their lives,” an eyewitness told The Guardian on Sunday over the phone.
Ironically, police later on in unknown motive fired teargas canisters, causing more confusion and chaos. As a result, angered people smashed the windows of an ambulance vehicle, protesting apparent inaction.
No statement from the police was available immediately. 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 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.
In April, police fired tear gas to disperse around 200 Christian rioters attempting to torch a mosque over an argument over who should be allowed to slaughter animals.
In February, a Catholic priest was shot dead outside his church on the largely Muslim archipelago of Zanzibar, the second such killing in recent months. A church was also set on fire on Zanzibar in February.
The arrest of the four Saudis could not immediately be confirmed. Tanzania has not been targeted by foreign terrorists since the US embassy bombing in 1998, and Sunday's attack in Arusha was the first large-scale attack at a place of worship in the country.
"This is an act of terrorism perpetrated by a cruel person or group who are enemies of the country," Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania's President, said in a statement on Sunday, without mentioning Saudi Arabia.
In West Africa, Nigeria is currently experiencing a wave of attacks on Christian places of worship in its majority Muslim north, blamed on Islamist terror group Boko Haram.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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