Ethiopian authorities probe blasts
By Lea-Lisa Westerhoff (AFP)
May 13, 2006
Federal police spokesperson Demsach Hailu said the capital remained calm after the blasts, which ripped through two office buildings, a cafe, a bus station, three buses and a bridge.
"We have organised an anti-terrorist task force within the police. We are all working on the investigation. I think within a few days, we'll have the results," Demsach told AFP.
"There is no problem, everything is quiet this morning," he said, a day after the explosions left a trail of destruction, splashes of blood and broken glass strewn over verandas.
"Altogether we have four dead, 42 injured, among them 16 are seriously wounded," Demsach said, updating the earlier injury toll from 41.
Police could not say who was responsible for the blasts, the latest in a series of explosions that have convulsed the impoverished Horn of Africa country, home to 70 million people during heightened political tensions this year.
On Friday, police described the blasts as "criminal acts" that targeted civilians and were intended to give the impression that peace and stability had collapsed in the country.
In early April, at least six people were killed and dozens wounded when grenades exploded in bars and a market in towns in eastern and western Ethiopia.
Before Friday, Addis Ababa had been hit by at least 11 explosions, some attributed to grenades, others to landmines, since January, including five in one day in March that killed one person on a bus and wounded 15.
No one has claimed responsibility. But Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who was attending the official inauguration of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during the latest blasts, has claimed the material for the explosives has come from arch-rival neighbour Eritrea, a charge denied by Eritrean authorities.
The two Horn of Africa foes have been at loggerheads since they fought a deadly 1998-2000 war over their common border, which is yet to be resolved.
Other federal officials have blamed separatist rebels, notably the Oromo Liberation Movement, Somali Muslim extremists and opposition groups, which the government has accused of trying to foment a coup after disputed elections last year, which the opposition claimed was rigged by the ruling party.
Tension has been high in Addis Ababa for months since at least 84 people died - many at the hands of police - during opposition-led protests against alleged fraud in the May 2005
election.
The protests resulted in the imprisonment of the entire leadership of the opposition Coalition of Unity and Democracy party and more than a dozen journalists on a wide range of charges including genocide, treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Several killed as bomb explosions hit Addis Ababa
ADDIS ABABA (May 12) - Bomb explosions rocked the city of Addis Ababa on Friday, and witnesses said at least six were killed at the Mesalemia blast alone, while it was unknown how many perished in the the Saris explosion and other four more blasts that hit the capital, Gemoraw Kidane of EthioMedia reported on Friday.
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.
A damaged bus by bomb in the Gotera Junction, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, May 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Leslie Neuhaus)
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.
"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.
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Federal police spokesperson Demsach Hailu said the capital remained calm after the blasts, which ripped through two office buildings, a cafe, a bus station, three buses and a bridge.
"We have organised an anti-terrorist task force within the police. We are all working on the investigation. I think within a few days, we'll have the results," Demsach told AFP.
"There is no problem, everything is quiet this morning," he said, a day after the explosions left a trail of destruction, splashes of blood and broken glass strewn over verandas.
"Altogether we have four dead, 42 injured, among them 16 are seriously wounded," Demsach said, updating the earlier injury toll from 41.
Police could not say who was responsible for the blasts, the latest in a series of explosions that have convulsed the impoverished Horn of Africa country, home to 70 million people during heightened political tensions this year.
On Friday, police described the blasts as "criminal acts" that targeted civilians and were intended to give the impression that peace and stability had collapsed in the country.
In early April, at least six people were killed and dozens wounded when grenades exploded in bars and a market in towns in eastern and western Ethiopia.
Before Friday, Addis Ababa had been hit by at least 11 explosions, some attributed to grenades, others to landmines, since January, including five in one day in March that killed one person on a bus and wounded 15.
No one has claimed responsibility. But Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who was attending the official inauguration of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during the latest blasts, has claimed the material for the explosives has come from arch-rival neighbour Eritrea, a charge denied by Eritrean authorities.
The two Horn of Africa foes have been at loggerheads since they fought a deadly 1998-2000 war over their common border, which is yet to be resolved.
Other federal officials have blamed separatist rebels, notably the Oromo Liberation Movement, Somali Muslim extremists and opposition groups, which the government has accused of trying to foment a coup after disputed elections last year, which the opposition claimed was rigged by the ruling party.
Tension has been high in Addis Ababa for months since at least 84 people died - many at the hands of police - during opposition-led protests against alleged fraud in the May 2005 election.
The protests resulted in the imprisonment of the entire leadership of the opposition Coalition of Unity and Democracy party and more than a dozen journalists on a wide range of charges including genocide, treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Several killed as bomb explosions hit Addis Ababa
ADDIS ABABA (May 12) - Bomb explosions rocked the city of Addis Ababa on Friday, and witnesses said at least six were killed at the Mesalemia blast alone, while it was unknown how many perished in the the Saris explosion and other four more blasts that hit the capital, Gemoraw Kidane of EthioMedia reported on Friday.
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.
|
|
| A damaged bus by bomb in the Gotera Junction, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, May 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Leslie Neuhaus) |
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.
"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.
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