May 13, 2006
Nine bombs and counting
Yesterday at least nine bombs exploded in Addis - two of them in commuter buses - leaving at least four dead and scores injured.
I say "at least" because the numbers keep changing. "I think it was nine but I've lost count" said one journalist in the afternoon. It is really too depressing to write about, beyond pointing you to the wire pieces on the explosions. Here's Reuters' take on the blast at the Amica café in the Merkato (pictured) where two died:
"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, standing amid shattered glass on a blood-smeared floor.Later, one person was killed when a bomb went off on another minibus and another was killed in a blast at a hotel parking lot, police said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Again, easy "civilian" targets were chosen. Again the timing seemed designed to get commuters on their way to work. If you put bombs on line-cab buses on busy traffic routes it means you are out to maim and kill "ordinary" people. Why would anyone want to do that? Why has no group claimed responsibility and set out their aims? None of the conspiracy theories I have heard amount to anything like a convincing explanation.
Now the focus is on what is going to happen on Monday May 15, the anniversary of the elections.
Posted by aheavens at May 13, 2006 2:13 AM