Several killed in Addis Ababa bomb explosions
EthioMedia & Agencies
May 12, 2006
Four of the eight bomb explosion sites are:
- At Piassa Ethiopian Airlines Ticket office (near Electric Buidling)
- In front of Black Lion (Tikur Anbessa) Secondary School where a taxi was completely damaged.
- Around Saris (A small bus)
- Around Mesalemia - at Shenkora tera
The Churchill Road, one of the busiest throughfares in downtown Addis, was closed to traffic for more than an hour. Federal police were seen beating foreigners who were rushing to take pictures of victims.
Most of the blasts targetted taxis. Internet was down in the afternoon without any explanation.
Federal police spokesman Commander Demsash Hailu said the blasts were the work of an organization trying to discredit the government but did not offer specifics.
The first blast occurred at 4:50 a.m. in one of Addis Ababa's main plazas and damaged an Ethiopian Airlines office, but caused no injuries.
The next three blasts occurred between 9:20 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. One damaged the headquarters of the city's electricity company, injuring seven. Another blew out the front of a city bus, injuring seven, witnesses said.
The fourth detonated outside two cafes in the Mercato district, Addis Ababa's main shopping area, killing two people and injuring seven — five seriously, witnesses said. "Two who sat on the veranda were killed instantly," cafe manager Seifu Shume told Reuters. Two waitresses were among the injured, including one whose leg was blown off, he said.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw says shoes and other personal belongings can be seen on the veranda outside the cafe. "I saw the waitresses falling down on the ground, I saw blood," 15-year-old Berekat Betwidid told AFP through tears and sobs.
Another two bombs were reported after midday. A third man was killed in the afternoon when a bomb destroyed the rear of a small bus, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. A sixth bomb struck a minibus taxi, witnesses said, but no injuries were immediately reported.
Two more bombs exploded later in the capital's main market district of Ethiopia's capital, injuring at least five people and raising the number of explosions to eight.
"We believe the main targets of these bombings are the civilians and it is being done intentionally to give an impression that there is no peace or stability in Addis Ababa," Demsash said. "We believe all of this is being perpetrated by one organization."
He declined to name the suspected organization.
Authorities have blamed other small bombings in recent months on alleged militant elements of the political opposition, on two groups fighting for greater autonomy for their regions — the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front — and on agents from neighboring Eritrea.
Both liberation fronts, however, have quickly claimed responsibility for attacks in the past, and the attacks have been outside Addis Ababa.
Past bombings inside the city have rarely caused injuries or caused significant damage and were not accompanied by any claims of responsibility.
At the Amico Cafe in the Mercato district, 15-year-old Bereket Betiwibid said patrons were knocked out of their chairs and two waitresses were thrown across the verandah when the bomb exploded on the sidewalk outside. Tiny holes dotted the walls where bomb fragments appeared to have hit.
Genet Wordofa, sitting in Black Lion Hospital next to her badly injured adult son, said she was about to get on a city bus when it exploded in one of the two morning attacks.
A damaged bus by bomb in the Gotera Junction, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, May 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Leslie Neuhaus)
"I was shocked because we had just returned from a checkup at a nearby clinic and was about to get on the bus when the explosion occurred," she said. "All of a sudden my son was on the ground bleeding."
Her son, Metike Ayelegine, suffered a chest injury and his hand was mangled in the explosion.
In Washington on Thursday, the State Department urged Ethiopian opposition politicians to let new nominees for Cabinet posts assume their duties. The ability of the appointees to start their assignments "has been severely hampered" by an opposition boycott of a vote in parliament on the nominations, spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"What we would expect is that all the political parties in Ethiopia really begin to work together and pull together for the sake of the Ethiopian people," he said.
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
Four of the eight bomb explosion sites are:
- At Piassa Ethiopian Airlines Ticket office (near Electric Buidling)
- In front of Black Lion (Tikur Anbessa) Secondary School where a taxi was completely damaged.
- Around Saris (A small bus)
- Around Mesalemia - at Shenkora tera
The Churchill Road, one of the busiest throughfares in downtown Addis, was closed to traffic for more than an hour. Federal police were seen beating foreigners who were rushing to take pictures of victims.
Most of the blasts targetted taxis. Internet was down in the afternoon without any explanation. Federal police spokesman Commander Demsash Hailu said the blasts were the work of an organization trying to discredit the government but did not offer specifics.
The first blast occurred at 4:50 a.m. in one of Addis Ababa's main plazas and damaged an Ethiopian Airlines office, but caused no injuries.
The next three blasts occurred between 9:20 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. One damaged the headquarters of the city's electricity company, injuring seven. Another blew out the front of a city bus, injuring seven, witnesses said.
The fourth detonated outside two cafes in the Mercato district, Addis Ababa's main shopping area, killing two people and injuring seven — five seriously, witnesses said. "Two who sat on the veranda were killed instantly," cafe manager Seifu Shume told Reuters. Two waitresses were among the injured, including one whose leg was blown off, he said.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw says shoes and other personal belongings can be seen on the veranda outside the cafe. "I saw the waitresses falling down on the ground, I saw blood," 15-year-old Berekat Betwidid told AFP through tears and sobs.
Another two bombs were reported after midday. A third man was killed in the afternoon when a bomb destroyed the rear of a small bus, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. A sixth bomb struck a minibus taxi, witnesses said, but no injuries were immediately reported.
Two more bombs exploded later in the capital's main market district of Ethiopia's capital, injuring at least five people and raising the number of explosions to eight.
"We believe the main targets of these bombings are the civilians and it is being done intentionally to give an impression that there is no peace or stability in Addis Ababa," Demsash said. "We believe all of this is being perpetrated by one organization."
He declined to name the suspected organization.
Authorities have blamed other small bombings in recent months on alleged militant elements of the political opposition, on two groups fighting for greater autonomy for their regions — the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front — and on agents from neighboring Eritrea.
Both liberation fronts, however, have quickly claimed responsibility for attacks in the past, and the attacks have been outside Addis Ababa.
Past bombings inside the city have rarely caused injuries or caused significant damage and were not accompanied by any claims of responsibility.
At the Amico Cafe in the Mercato district, 15-year-old Bereket Betiwibid said patrons were knocked out of their chairs and two waitresses were thrown across the verandah when the bomb exploded on the sidewalk outside. Tiny holes dotted the walls where bomb fragments appeared to have hit.
Genet Wordofa, sitting in Black Lion Hospital next to her badly injured adult son, said she was about to get on a city bus when it exploded in one of the two morning attacks.
|
|
| A damaged bus by bomb in the Gotera Junction, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, May 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Leslie Neuhaus) |
Her son, Metike Ayelegine, suffered a chest injury and his hand was mangled in the explosion.
In Washington on Thursday, the State Department urged Ethiopian opposition politicians to let new nominees for Cabinet posts assume their duties. The ability of the appointees to start their assignments "has been severely hampered" by an opposition boycott of a vote in parliament on the nominations, spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"What we would expect is that all the political parties in Ethiopia really begin to work together and pull together for the sake of the Ethiopian people," he said.
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
