Soldier arrested over New Year’s Eve deaths

 

By The Citizen Reporters

In Summary

• Ilala Regional Police Commander Marieta Minangi named the victims as Ibrahim Mohammed, 16, and Abubakar Hassan, 14, whose bodies were taken to Muhimbili National Hospital.

Dar es Salaam. Police in Dar es Salaam are holding a soldier with the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) for allegedly killing two teenagers and seriously wounding two others during New Year celebrations in Pugu.

Ilala Regional Police Commander Marieta Minangi named the victims as Ibrahim Mohammed, 16, and Abubakar Hassan, 14, whose bodies were taken to Muhimbili National Hospital.

Lugano Wanga and Kassim Abuli 16, were wounded and rushed to Amana Hospital. All four are residents of Pugu.

The incident took place a few minutes past midnight when a group of youths who were celebrating the arrival of the New Year blocked the road and they chanted.

According to the police, the crowd was walking on the road at Pugu Kinyamwezi, giving motorists a hard time.

“According to the suspect, the crowd came across his car and started stoning it. He tried to scare them off by firing in the air, but ended up shooting  four of them,” Ms Minangi said.

An eyewitness, Mr Michael Ukani, said he was in one of the vehicles that were attacked by dozens of youths.  However, they did not take anything from the occupants, saying they were just celebrating the New Year.

“It looked like a case of mob psychology...some of them were  drunk. They broke one of the windows of our car, but did not harm us. The soldier’s car was right behind us. The youth  climbed on top of it, and the next thing we heard were gunshots,” he said.

Ms Minangi said the suspect was arrested the same night.

“We are still questioning him...it is still too early to say exactly what happened,” she sad.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Dar es Salaam, the New Year was ushered in with prayer, song and dance in various parts of the city.

The celebrations were largely peaceful, with police attributing this to community policing and cooperation between police and civilians