By Henry Mwangonde and Lilian Lucas,The Citizen Correspondents
In Summary
- The object was thrown by one of the suspects before fleeing, according to eyewitnesses
- The incident occurred about a month after one terror suspect was killed and 10 others were arrested in a mosque
Ifakara/Morogoro. Four people
were injured and a car was destroyed on Friday night by what was
suspected to be a hand grenade explosion at Msolwa Ujamaa Village at
Kidatu Ward in Kilombero District, Morogoro.
The object was thrown by one of the two strangers before fleeing, eyewitnesses said yesterday.
The destroyed car belonged to the Kilombero District council.
The incident occurred about a month after one
terror suspect was killed and 10 others were arrested in a mosque at
Nyandero Village at Kidatu Ward in Kilombero District where they were
found with explosives and an al-Shabaab flag.
Angry Nyandero villagers attacked one of the
suspects and set him on fire after he slashed a police officer in the
neck with a sword.
Morogoro Regional Police Commander Leonard Paul
could not be reached yesterday for comment but some Msolwa Ujamaa
villagers said what occurred was a terror attack.
The eyewitnesses said the two suspects arrived at
the village using a hired motorcycle, and they asked for a place where
they could withdraw money from the mobile phone money transfer service.
“The suspects looked very strange and they were
not settled, something that made us order them to sit down as we tried
to contact police,” one villager said.
“As we were contacting police one of the suspects
tossed the explosive to the villagers, causing confusion. Then they ran
away.”
Kilombero District Council Chairman David Ligazio
identified the injured persons as Novatus Ngapi, the driver of the
burnt-out vehicle; Thomas Majole, a militiaman; Amos Msopole and Azama
Naniyunya.
He said all injured people were rushed to St
Kizito Hospital at Mikumi. The village’s CCM chairman Mohammed Mkangamo
said the two individuals hired the motorcycle commonly referred to as
bodaboda and asked the motorcyclist to take them to Mang’ula in
Kilombero District.
The motorcyclist’s suspicions were raised
immediately after noticing that the prospective passengers were willing
to pay a high fare he had proposed without even attempting to bargain
with him
“The motorcyclist who was identified by one name of Makala grew
even more suspicious when he noticed that one of the passengers was
wearing an overcoat and so when he got to Msolwa he feigned to be hungry
and asked to stop and buy some food,” said Mr Mkangamo. When the
motorcyclist stopped to buy food one of the passengers got off the
motorcycle and ordered food for three, causing even more suspicion.
Furthermore, one of the passengers seemed to be addressing his friend who was not saying much in his responses.
The motorcyclist thus alerted people at Msolwa of
his suspicions who interviewed the passengers but when they were not
satisfied with their responses they sought the help of Village Executive
Officer Said Changamoto who happened to be at a Labour Day function
that was held at the CCM offices.
When they got at the offices they also found the council chairman who, along with a militia, started questioning the suspects
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