Congo Restaurant bombed on Christmas Day!

Bomu imelipuka kwenye mgahawa Kongo Magharibi..watu saba wamekufa!

BENI, Congo (AP) -  A bomb has exploded at a restaurant as patrons gathered on Christmas Day and killed at least seven people in eastern Congo. Mayor Narcisse Muteba told The Associated Press that the victims included two children and that investigations were underway to find the perpetrators. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack though Islamic extremists claimed a suicide bombing back in June that caused no other casualties. The town has long been targeted by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces which traces its origins to neighboring Uganda. But an Islamic State group affiliate claimed responsibility for two explosions in Beni in June.

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Remember the 1980 Bombing of the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi

Kenya mall attack echoes 1980 hotel bombing

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press

   Flames and smoke, the whoop of sirens, the flicker of ambulance lights and uniformed men shouting in darkness. These are my childhood memories of the chaotic aftermath of a hotel bombing in Kenya's capital on New Year's Eve, 1980.

   The attack on the Norfolk Hotel, popular among foreign tourists, preceded the Sept. 21 assault on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi by a generation. Then as now, a city landmark was hit, Kenyan and foreign civilians died, leaders pledged to stop it happening again and talk turned to recovery. Much about the hotel bombing remains a mystery as investigators now seek to unravel the plot behind the mall attack, a horror replayed on closed circuit TV footage.

   The motive and method were different for the two attacks, but Kenya is confronting the same questions about security, freedom of movement and the nexus between local and international militancy that it did decades ago.

   I was 13 years old at the time and watching "Superman II" with my family in a cinema in Nairobi, where my father was based as an Associated Press journalist. A boom interrupted the soundtrack. My father made a telephone call and within minutes we were driving to the hotel. No time to drop the family at home.

   My father's reporting captured the same kind of panic and confusion that shrouded the Westgate mall attack. Firefighters struggled with equipment. Some people speculated that a small plane had dropped a bomb on the historic hotel, which had a mock Tudor facade, an aviary and a verandah restaurant accessible from the street.

   Days after the blast, I wandered in the rubble. The twisted frame of a steel tennis racket and other burned belongings of guests lay there.

   Suspicion fell on Palestinian militant groups that allegedly targeted Kenya for supporting Israel in counterterrorism missions, including a 1976 hostage rescue in neighboring Uganda. The groups denied involvement. At least 15 people died at the hotel, according to Kenyan media.

The Norfolk Hotel In Nairobi before the 1980 bombing

   Al-Shabab, a Somalia-based al-Qaida-linked extremist group, said it attacked Westgate, where at least 67 died, to punish Kenya for fighting Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia. The mall is at least partially owned by Israelis.

   Kenya is a periodic target, vulnerable to infiltration, because of its role as a Western ally and regional hub. Thirteen died in a bomb attack on an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast in 2002. Hundreds died in al-Qaida's 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

   In a Jan. 7, 1981 editorial titled "International Terrorism," The Standard newspaper of Kenya wondered whether the Norfolk assailants were "a loosely knit but well-funded gang of mercenaries which at any stage during their mischievous `safari' on Kenyan soil, may have colluded with `local' or `regional' contacts."

   Kenyan authorities said the bomber was a Moroccan militant traveling on a Maltese passport who on Dec. 23, 1980 checked into the Norfolk, then owned by the Blocks, a Jewish family. He left on a flight to Saudi Arabia hours before the blast.

   At midday on Dec. 31, 1980, the suspect "ran down the wide carpeted staircase from his room on the first floor of the western wing, walked out past the reception counter and was never seen again. At 8.30 p.m., with a blinding flash and a roar that split the night, the Norfolk exploded," Fairmont The Norfolk Hotel, as it is now called, says on its website.

   Ruth Rabb, a Block family member, was driving to the Norfolk that night to have dinner with friends. She said some people initially thought the explosion was caused by a gas leak. A dining room, a lounge, some guest rooms and other areas were destroyed, but much of the hotel was intact. Rebuilding began quickly.

   "It was hard work and determination," Rabb said.

   My parents dined at the Norfolk on the night before the blast. The family returned for tea a week later, when a hotel restaurant reopened.

   The Norfolk bombing and the strike at Westgate, in which attackers with guns and grenades slaughtered civilians, represent different eras. Extremist groups have evolved from largely top-down structures, sometimes with state support, to fragmented cells with shifting alliances.

   "There's definitely a more horizontal structure to these networks than the vertical structure that we saw in the past," said Colin Clarke, an associate political scientist at the U.S.-based RAND Corporation. He said attacks can be more lethal because of new technology and the ease with which militants can communicate.

   Like Westgate, the Norfolk's clients were mostly people of means, some of fame. Guests included Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt; in 1979, Jerry Brown, California's governor then and now, stayed there with singer Linda Ronstadt.

   Hilary Ng'weno, publisher of The Weekly Review, a Kenyan journal, wrote at the time of the explosion that it created "uncertainty" between Kenya and foreign visitors and aimed to undermine a political system with a continental reputation for stability.

   Ng'weno said: "Ironically, it is the very nature of a free society in Kenya which has made the bombing at the Norfolk possible."

   The hotel, now Saudi-owned, marked its 2004 centenary with a parade of vintage cars and horse-drawn carriages. The theme was the Norfolk's iconic role in the growth of Kenya's capital, which is again embarking on a path to recovery.

   ---

   Christopher Torchia is the Associated Press bureau chief for southern Africa, based in Johannesburg.

Mlipuko wa Bomu Katika Kanisa Katoliki Arusha

 HABARI KWA KIFUPI:Mkuu wa Mkoa Mulongo nae yumo kwenye hili sakata. RPC Anatoa hotuba.
Anasema ni tukio la kighaidi.
Anasema alihusika alijitokeza nyuma ya jengo kwa kujificha na kurusha bomu.
Anasema wanawasaka waliohusika. Anomba mwenye taarifa yo yote aisaide polisi.
Waliojeruhiwa ni 30 majeraha ya kawaida, na 3 wamejeruhiwa sana.
Mtu mmoja anashikiliwa kwa mahojiano

Eneo lenye utepe ndipo kitu hicho kinachodhaniwa kuwa bomu kilipoangukia. Pichani unaweza kuona wigi za kichwani na viatu vya waumini vikiwa vimesambaa baada ya wenyewe kuviacha, miongoni mwao wakiwa ni majeruhi.

Viongozi wa Kanisa wakitoa taarifa ya kilichotokea kwa waandishi wa habari kabla ya Balozi wa Papa kuondolewa Kanisani hapo chini ya ulinzi mkali wa Polisi.

Tanzania Field Force Unit (FFU) on site of Catholic church bombing

Kaimu Kamanda wa Polisi Mkoa wa Arusha Kamishna Msaidizi wa Polisi (ACP) Ibrahim Kilongo.


JESHI la Polisi Mkoani Arusha linamshikilia mtu mmoja ambaye anahusishwa na kutokea kwa mlipuko uliotokea katika kanisa la Katoliki la St Joseph Olasiti Arusha leo asubuhi.

Tukio hilo lilitokea wakati Balozi wa Papa kutoka Vatican akizindua Parokia hiyo mpya ya St Joseph Olasiti ya Jijini Arusha.

Kanisa lililolipuliwa likiwa linaonekana kwa mbali huku wananch wakilitazama kwa mbali kutokana na tishio la kutokea kwa milipuko mingine ...Mtu mmoja amekamatwa kuhusiana na tukio hilio wakati wengine wanasadikika kukimbia.

Majeruhi wa tukio hilo wakiwa katika hali mbaya..

Waumini pamoja na baadhi ya wanacchi wakiwa katika hali ya taharuki wasiamini nini kilichotokea kutokana na mlipuko mkubwa uliotokea asubuhi ya leo.

Kanisa Katoliki Lalipuliwa na Bomu Arusha Wakati wa Ibada!

 Hivi Tanzania kuna nini siku hizi? Mapadri wanauawa, kanisa zinachomwa moto na sasa kulipuliwa na mabomu!  Tunalilia nchi yetu!  Shaidi anasema kuwa wakati wa Misa maalum ya kubariki kanisa jipya mwanaume fulani alitokea na kurusha bomu ya petroli.  Baada ya kuirusha alikimbia nje ya kanisa na kuingia ndani ya gari na kuondoka. Misa ilikuwa inafanyika mbele ya kanisa.

KWA KIFUPI:

Mkuu wa Mkoa Mulongo nae yumo kwenye hili sakata. RPC Anatoa hotuba.

Anasema ni tukio la kighaidi.

Anasema alihusika alijitokeza nyuma ya jengo kwa kujificha na kurusha bomu.

Anasema wanawasaka waliohusika. Anomba mwenye taarifa yo yote aisaide polisi.

Waliojeruhiwa ni 30 majeraha ya kawaida, na 3 wamejeruhiwa sana.

Mtu mmoja anashikiliwa kwa mahojiano

Hali ya eneo mlipuko ulipotokea

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A suspected bomb blast struck a Catholic church in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha on Sunday, police said, wounding a number of people.

Sectarian tensions have been simmering in east Africa's second biggest economy after two Christian leaders were killed in the predominantly Muslim islands of Zanzibar earlier this year and there have been attacks on Muslim leaders and mosques.

"Some kind of explosion went off at the church. It is believed to have been a bomb but we don't know what type of bomb it was," Tanzania police spokesperson Advera Senso said.

Senso could not confirm if anyone had been killed in the attack or how many had been wounded.

Tanzania's foreign affairs minister Bernard Membe said in a message on Twitter he was "deeply shocked" by the explosion.

President Jakaya Kikwete has warned about rising religious tensions in several televised addresses.

(Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by Richard Lough and Mike Collett-White)

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ARUSHA, Tanzania, May 5 (Xinhua) -- A bomb blast hit a Catholic church on Sunday in Arusha in northern Tanzania, killing one child and injuring more than 30 people, witnesses reported.
The dead was among the church followers who were gathering for Sunday prayers.
The church located in Arusha's Olasiti suburb was bombed just before a mass in the presence of Bishop Josaphat Louis Lebulu of Arusha Diocese, who was accompanied by a representative of Pope of Vatican.
Police in Arusha said one man was arrested in connection with the incident, which caused a lot of panic in the tourist capital of the East African country.
Casualties are yet to be updated. "We are still working on the matter. We'll give more detail after investigating the matter," said Arusha Regional Police Commander Liberatus Sabas.
He said the man was arrested following a tip-off from people at the scene when the explosion occurred.
"We are still interrogating the suspect," he said.
Regional Commissioner Magesa Mulongo described the blast as horrific and unique in Tanzanian history, calling on the public to remain calm.
"So, people should continue with their daily activities, as police and other security organs have normalized the situation," Mulongo said.
A witness said, "I saw more than 30 people, taken by a police vehicle, which took them to the Mount Meru Regional Hospital."
Another witness said the bomb hit the church at around 10:00 a. m. local time when church followers were gathering for the historic Sunday prayer at the new church.
"We were trying to organize ourselves for the mass, when we heard loud sound, the situation that made more people to start rushing out of the church," a witness told Xinhua.
This is the first bomb explosion at the church in the northern safari capital of Arusha. 

One of those injured in Bombing receiving First Aid

Tuko Hoi Boston, Polisi Wametuambia Tukae Ndani!

Wadau, nimeamshwa na simu kutoka Emergency Alert ya mji wa Cambridge , MA wakisema kuwa ni maarufu kutoka nje ya majumba yetu leo! Hakuna usafiri, wameomba sehemu za kazi zisifungue!

Wadau, jana usiku ilikuwa balaa hapa Cambridge! Cambridge ni nje ya Boston.  Kwanza kwenye saa tatu na nusu (9:30PM) tulisikia kuwa majambazi walivamia duka la  7-11 Central Square!

 Kukaa kidogo tukasikia Polisi kapigwa risasi Chuo Kikuu cha MIT! Baada ya muda mfupi wakasema yule polisi kafa!

Kwenye saa Tano tukasikia Mtu kaibiwa gari yake aina ya Mercedes Benz, kwenye kituo cha mafuta!  Ni mwendo mfupi toka napokaa! Nikaanza kusikia milio ya gari ya polisi!

Kumbe polisi wa kila aina, walikuwa wanawafukuza  Karibu na Arsenal Mall milio ya risasi balaa, ambulance na magari ya polisi yalikuwa yanafukuzana, kwenye TV, tukaona kila mtu aliyefannana na Mspanish, mwarabu kasimamishwa na kusachiwa!

Sikulala hadi saa nane na nusu! Nimeamshwa na simu ya Emergeny Alert! Duh, hii ni kama SINEMA!

Wanasema huyo gaidi wanayetamfuta anaitwa Zohkar Sarnev  mwenye miaka 19, anatoka Chcchnya!

Bomu Imelipuka Nairobi!

 Duh! Kwa mara nyingine bomu imelipuka mjini Nairobi, Kenya. Habari zinasema kuwa watu wawili wamekufa na wanane wamejuruhiwa leo asubuhi.  Bomu ililipuka eneo ambao wanakaa waKenya wengi wenye asili ya Somalia.

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The Kenyan Red Cross says two people have been killed and eight wounded after a blast in downtown Nairobi.

   Friday evening's blast was the second in three days. A blast Wednesday near a military base wounded eight people.

   Both explosions went off in a Somali neighborhood of Nairobi known as Little Mogadishu. Kenya has seen a series of small-scale explosions over the last year, many from grenades.  Kenyan media reported that a member of parliament was wounded in Friday's attack.

   Kenyan troops moved into Somalia in late 2011, prompting al-Shabab militants in Somalia to vow revenge attacks inside Kenya. Al-Shabab sympathizers are suspected in many of the blast attacks, though authorities have not clearly linked all the attacks to al-Shabab or its sympathizers.

MTanzania Apata Kifungo cha Maisha Marekani

Kwa vile picha haziruhusiwi kupigwa katika mahakama za serikali ya Marekani (Federal Court) kuna wachoraji maalum ambao wanachora picha. pichani Ghailani akiwa mahakamani hivi karibuni.
Ghailani mwaka 1998 picha hii ilitolewa na FBI wakiwa wanamtafuta.

MTanzania Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani leo amehukuhumiwa kifungo cha maisha ma mahakama ya serikali ya Marekani huko New York. Ghailani alishiriki katika ugaidi uliyofanywa Tanzania na Kenya mwaka 1998. Katika tukio hiyo Ubalozi za Marekani Nairobi na Dar es Salaam zililipuliwa. Magari kadhaa yakiwa na mabomu yaliegeshwa nje ya Ubalozi hizo. Watu 224 walipoteza maisha yao. Ilikuwa njama ya Al Qaeda na Osama bin Laden.

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Plotter in U.S. embassy bombings sentenced to life in prison

By Geraldine Baum and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

January 25, 2011

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was sentenced Tuesday in New York to life in prison for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, making him the first terrorist to be plucked from the prison camp at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and successfully prosecuted in a civilian court.

The term of life without parole probably will boost the position of the Obama administration, eager to close the Caribbean military prison and move prisoners to civilian courts in the U.S. The administration argues that suspected terrorists can safely be tried, convicted and sentenced in a U.S. civilian courtroom — including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind, and other alleged plotters in the attacks.

It has been more than a year since Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. postponed plans for a New York trial for the Sept. 11 plotters, and now with the Ghailani trial over and the midterm elections done, a decision is likely to come soon on where that larger trial is held.

"Hundreds of individuals have now been convicted in federal court of terrorism or terrorism-related crimes since Sept. 11, 2001," Holder said. "As this case demonstrates, we will not rest in bringing to justice terrorists who seek to harm the American people, and we will use every tool available to the government to do so."

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said the life sentence proved that "federal courts work, military commissions don't."

The jury in the Ghailani trial, convened in the same courthouse where the Department of Justice had hoped to try the top five alleged Sept. 11 plotters, acquitted him last fall of 284 counts of murder and conspiracy, and convicted him of only a single charge of conspiracy to damage or destroy U.S. government buildings and property.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) called the case a "near disaster" in that U.S. prosecutors "barely won a guilty verdict. The trial proved what Republicans have been saying all along: that civilian trials grant foreign terrorists the same rights as U.S. citizens. This makes it harder for prosecutors to obtain a conviction."

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan cast aside suggestions that Ghailani should receive a lesser sentence, perhaps 20 years, because he was tortured by U.S. agents and acquitted of so many charges.

"Whatever Mr. Ghailani suffered at the hands of the CIA and others in our government, the impact on him pales in comparison to the suffering" of the victims, the judge said.

He called the bombings "a cold-blooded killing and maiming of innocent people on an enormous scale.... It wrecked the lives of thousands of others.... The very purpose of it was to create terror."

In all, 224 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in the August 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.

Because the 36-year-old Tanzanian was acquitted on all but the one count, his defense lawyers had urged Kaplan to overturn the single guilty count. But with government evidence that Ghailani had purchased the TNT and the truck that carried the bomb to the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the judge refused.

And prosecutors stressed that Ghailani hurriedly left Nairobi, Kenya, the site of the second bombing, carrying multiple passports and a cellphone shared by other conspirators — all signs, they said, that he was deeply involved in planning the attacks. There also was evidence indicating that he had served as a bodyguard to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and had met with some of the men who became the Sept. 11 hijackers.

But lead defense attorney Peter Quijano, in a newly unsealed court filing, said his client deserved a lighter sentence because he provided information to U.S. agents and was repeatedly tortured "at the hands of the United States government" — shaved, stripped, diapered, hooded, strip-searched and deprived of sleep.

Ghailani did not address the court, nor did he look at any of the survivors or victims' relatives, including 11 who testified about the blasts and their shattered lives. Dressed in a light blue button-down shirt and gray slacks, the defendant simply stared down at his hands.

James Ndeda, a Nairobi embassy worker whose skull was fractured in the attack, asked for a 224-year sentence, one year for each of the dead. "I know he may not live for that 224 years," Ndeda said, "but I know if a [criminal] dies in prison in Africa, his grave is chained until the period elapses."

Yasmin Pressley and her husband, Frank, were both injured in the Nairobi bombing. He has undergone surgeries to repair his jaw and still lives in agony. She turned toward Ghailani and said, "If we are going to live with pain, also should he."

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
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