Arusha attack: Results from a slippery slope?

On Saturday the 15th Soweto estate in Arusha was rocked by a blast during a vibrant opposition party’s campaign rally.

Over 60 people were injured and three lost their lives, after a bomb was hurled towards the crowd, in what is now deemed an inside job in certain circles.

There have been reports from various sources as to who is responsible for the bomb tossed into the crowd. Chadema’s party leader Freeman Mbowe claims it was from members of the Field force unit, while the ruling party say Chadema planned the attack all along.

Three lives and over 60 people were injured 40 days before the Chadema rally attack, this time on a church in Arusha.

The blast, caused by a handmade bomb, occurred during the official opening of a newly built church in the Olasiti area of Arusha a few kilometers from the Oljoro army camp.

The newly built church was packed with people gathering to celebrate the May 5th official opening of the Saint Joseph’s Catholic parish church.

As to whether the attacks are connected is up to the evidence to reveal.

Religious tension in the country has been brewing for over a year now and various incidences and attacks on church and religious leaders have been witnessed.

Some of the incidences include that of a Catholic priest shot dead in February outside his church on the largely Muslim isles of Zanzibar, the second such killing in recent months. A church was also set on fire on Zanzibar a few weeks afterwards.

Also in February, divisions appeared in the Lake Victoria towns of Mwanza and Geita when Christian and Muslim slaughterhouses had a difference of opinion and faith which in turn ignited a feud between the separate groups over who could slaughter what kind of animal.

In March, 52 followers of controversial Muslim cleric Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda were jailed for a year for riots in October in Dar es Salaam, sparked by rumors that a 12-year-old boy had urinated on a copy of the Qur’an (see a Vijana FM post No Longer Child’s Play here).

Raia Mwema, a newspaper in Tanzania, reported that the Tanzanian police had called on the help of the FBI, who were in the country working on Zanzibar related matters, to help find out the reason behind the attack.

President Jakaya Kikwete condemned the church bombing as an “act of terrorism” and has vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

Eyewitnesses had said the bomb was thrown from a motorcycle into the church, almost the same as what happened in Soweto.

Incidences of killings done by perpetrators on motorcycles have been rife of late in the country. The cases ranging from petty theft to drive-bys.

In March, there were two separate incidences where motorcycle attackers would drive by the side of a vehicle and shoot drivers and flee.

The security level in the country is worth discussing as the Bunge session draws to a close.