Bombers kill 64 as they watch World Cup final
Published 23:00 12/07/10 By Josh Layton
Somali Islamists are suspected of carrying out two bomb attacks in Uganda that killed at least 64 people as they watched the World Cup final at a restaurant and a sports club.
American aid worker Nate Henn, from North Carolina, was among the victims at the rugby ground, US charity Invisible Children said in a blog posting on its website.
US President Barack Obama condemned the “deplorable and cowardly attacks” and promised to help Uganda track down the killers.
Suspicion fell on a rebel group called al-Shabaab, which claims links with al-Qaeda, after police found the severed head of a suspected Somali suicide bomber.
The explosions ripped through two bars in Uganda’s capital Kampala which were packed with fans watching Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Holland.
Al-Shabaab had threatened to attack Uganda for sending peacekeeping troops to the anarchic country to prop up the Western-backed government they are fighting.
Ugandan Army spokesman Felix Kulayigye said: “At one of the scenes, investigators identified a severed head of a Somali national, which we suspect could have been a suicide bomber.
“We suspect it’s al Shabaab because they’ve been promising this for long.”
An al-Shabaab commander in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu yesterday praised the attacks but admitted he did not know whether they were the work of his group.
One bombing targeted the Ethiopian Village restaurant, a popular night-spot which was heaving with football fans and is popular with foreigners.
The second attack struck the Lugogo Rugby Club which was showing the match on large outdoor screens
At the scenes of both blasts chairs were overturned and blood and pieces of flesh littered the floor.
Police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said: “Sixty-four are confirmed dead. Fifteen people at the Ethiopian Village and 49 at Lugogo Rugby Club. Seventy-one people are injured.”
She said 10 of the dead were either Ethiopian or Eritrean.
The US embassy in Kampala confirmed one American was killed.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said: “This shows you the criminality and terrorism that I have been talking about.
“If you want to fight, go and look for soldiers, don’t bomb people watching football.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “deeply shocked” by the atrocity.
He added that they were “cowardly attacks during an event that was widely seen as a celebration of African unity”.
