Muslim Hate in Uganda
Islamic militant group al-Shabab claims Uganda bombing attacks
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 12, 2010
KAMPALA, Uganda -- An al-Qaeda-linked Somali militia claimed
responsibility Monday for back-to-back bombings in the Ugandan capital
that killed at least 74 people watching the World Cup final on
television, marking the first major international attack by the group
in a region where the United States and its allies are attempting to
stem the rise of Islamic radicalism.
In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a top spokesman for the hardline
al-Shabab said the group carried out the bombings, and he threatened
further attacks if Uganda and Burundi continued to supply troops to an
African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.
"Al Shabab was behind the blasts," Ali Mohamud Raghe, the militia's
spokesman told reporters. "Thanks to our martyrs who carried out the
attacks."
The powerful explosions tore through two venues in Kampala where crowds
were watching broadcasts of the World Cup final late Sunday, killing at
least 74 and wounding scores of others, Ugandan police said. At least
one American was killed and several were wounded, according to the U.S.
Embassy here.
The bombings unfolded at the Kyadondo Rugby Club and at the Ethiopian
Village restaurant where hundreds of boisterous and cheering soccer
fans, including clusters of foreigners, had gathered to watch Spain
beat the Netherlands in the final in South Africa.
Among the dead at the rugby club was Nate Henn, 25, of Wilmington,
Del., a worker for Invisible Children, a California-based aid group
that helps child soldiers, the group said on its Web site. A
16-year-old girl from Ellicott City, Md., Emily Kerstetter, was
injured, according to WMAR-TV in Baltimore. She was in Kampala with her
grandmother's church group from Pennsylvania.
Ugandan Police Chief Kale Kaihura immediately pointed blame at
al-Shabab, a hard-line militia with growing ties to al-Qaeda that has
perpetrated several bombings in recent months in Somalia.
Last week, the militia's top leader, Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubeyr,
accused African Union peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu of committing
"massacres" against Somalis. Ugandan and Burundian troops make up the
peacekeeping force. Abu Zubeyr warned that his forces would take
revenge against the peoples of Uganda and Burundi.
Uganda, a key U.S. ally, is also a training ground for soldiers for
Somalia's transitional government, which al-Shabab is seeking to
overthrow. The training program is backed by the United States and
European nations. The United States officially considers al-Shabab a
terrorist organization.
The militia, which seeks to create an Islamic emirate and has imposed
Taliban-like dictates, has banned playing soccer in many areas and
prohibited broadcasts of the World Cup, describing the sport as "a
satanic act" that corrupts Muslims.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited the bombing sites Monday and
vowed to pursue those responsible, according to news agencies.
"This shows you the criminality and terrorism that I have been talking
about," he said at the rugby club. "If you want to fight, go and look
for soldiers. Don't bomb people watching football."
He also said of the attackers, "We shall go for them wherever they are
coming from. We will look for them and get them as we always do."
At the Kyadondo Rugby Club in the Lugogo section of Kampala, witnesses
and police said two explosions killed at least 43 people who had
gathered on the rugby field to watch the soccer final on a large-screen
television. As people went to help the victims of the first blast, a
second, more powerful bomb detonated, causing greater casualties,
witnesses said.
Police said they suspect that the second blast was set off by a suicide
bomber. A police official said investigators found the head of a man
who appeared to have Somali features.
As of Monday afternoon, cars belonging to the victims were still parked
on the rugby field, where organizers had set out rows of white plastic
chairs for the soccer fans.
"All of those cars belonged to those who died," said Alphonse Motebasi,
a police commander from a nearby station. "I was picking up bodies
until 7 a.m.," he said. Pointing down as his trousers, he added: "See
the blood?"
At the Ethiopian Village restaurant, crowds of Ugandans gathered
Monday, peering over the walls at the carnage inside as police stood
guard and investigators combed through debris that looked like the
aftermath of a tornado. The onlookers shook their heads at the
overturned tables on the restaurant's patio, the shattered glass and
shreds of clothing strewn about and the dried blood stains on the floor.
"How can someone kill innocent Ugandans?" demanded Godfrey Ivimba, 34,
the owner of a printing business, after he glimpsed the scene over the
restaurant's wall. Residents said the restaurant was popular with
Ethiopians and Eritreans, as well as other foreigners.
According to an American resident of Uganda, three of the wounded at
the restaurant were members of a church group from Pennsylvania, among
them a 16-year-old girl, the Associated Press reported.
If al-Shabab carried out Sunday's attacks, the bombings would represent
a significant escalation in its efforts to sow chaos in the region. The
militia controls much of southern and central Somalia. In recent
months, it has staged cross-border raids into neighboring Kenya, but it
has never attacked another nation on a scale seen on Sunday.
Nevertheless, Somalia's neighbors have long feared that Somalia's civil
war could spill across their borders.
Foreign jihadists trained in Afghanistan are gaining influence inside
al-Shabab and inspiring the militants to import al-Qaeda's ideology and
tactics from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Somali
intelligence officials, former al-Shabab fighters and analysts. Last
month, two New Jersey men were arrested in New York and charged with
planning to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the United States was prepared
to assist the Ugandan government in any manner, as both President Obama
and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the
attacks and offered their condolences.
"The United States stands with Uganda," Clinton said. "We have a
long-standing, close friendship with the people and government of
Uganda and will work with them to bring the perpetrators of this crime
to justice."
Invisible Children said on its Web site that Henn, the American killed
in the rugby club bombing, "sacrificed his comfort to live in the
humble service of God and of a better world, and his is a life to be
emulated." It added, "Nate's life ended while living out this dream, a
selfless dream of putting others first, seeking peace, and living a
life of integrity."
Staff writer William Branigin in Washington and special correspondent
Yusuf Hagi Hussein in Mogadishu contributed to this report.