FBI enters probe into Arusha bomb attacks.

Arusha.
 Tanzanian police have invited detectives from the US and Kenya to boost investigations into recent grenade attacks in Arusha.

Arusha Regional Police Commander Lebaratus Sabas confirmed yesterday that members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) were on the ground to help unravel the mysteries surrounding the explosions.

“Police are continuing with the Soweto grounds grenade attack but we have invited the FBI and Kenyan police to also work closely with us as we try to piece information together,” Mr Sabas told reporters at a press briefing in the city. But Chadema Secretary General Willibrod Slaa scoffed at the move and said it will not yield any useful results.

 

“There is nothing new as it is not the first time that FBI have been mentioned in many other internal investigations,” said Dr Slaa. He said the opposition party stood by its earlier stance that the police were suspects and that they were still hoping an independent judicial inquest would be formed to investigate the Arusha bomb blast.

“As a party we have said we will not cooperate with the police who are among the suspected perpetrators but will readily cooperate with the independent judicial commission,” Dr Slaa told The Citizen in a telephone interview.

Since the Soweto blast,on June 15, no major breakthrough in the investigation has been reported even as pressure from the public piled against the security agencies to show results of their act. Four people died and 60 others were seriously injured following the attack during a by-election campaign rally by Chadema.

The Soweto blast was the second after a similar one in early May at an open air Sunday service by the Catholic Church in Olasiti suburb claimed the lives of three people and also left scores of others injured. In all the attacks, unknown persons hurled a hand held grade into the crowds.

Yesterday, Mr Sabas said no suspects had been arrested in connection with the Soweto incident. Three people whom the police arrested in the early days of the blast have since been released after recording statements.

The main suspect linked to the Church attack is still at large while an alleged accomplice, a motorcycle taxi operator, is awaiting trial after he was charged with murder.

As it is now with the Soweto blast, the Kenyan police were first invited following the Church attack while the FBI were also following in what would appear a successful intervention in Zanzibar in February. The latter’s help in the Isles led to arrest and charging in court of a suspect who was linked to the shooting to death of a Catholic Priest Evarist Mushi.

According to Mr Sabas, the Kenyan police have enough experience arising from the many bomb blasts that have occurred in their country ever since their soldiers were sent to Somalia to uproot the Al-Shabaab militia.

The RPC asked members of the public who have evidence or any information that could help the team to urgently submit it to the investigating team. “I would like to ask people to assist us with information that could lead to arrest of those behind the attacks,” urged Mr Sabas.
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