Two Somali suicide bombers who'd planned to kill soccer fans during Ethiopia's World Cup qualifying match against Nigeria on Sunday blew themselves up accidentally before carrying out the attack, the Ethiopian government said on Monday.
ContinueThe explosion on Sunday happened in the upscale Bole district of the capital, about 5 km (3 miles) from Addis Ababa Stadium where thousands of fans were gathering for the match.
“These were Somali nationals and plotted to hold out a suicide attack disguised as fans on either the stadium or areas where large crowds gathered to watch the game,” government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said. Explosives, arms, hand grenades and football shirts were available at the scene of the blast, at a residential address an hour or so before kick-off, Shimeles said. Three suspects were detained. The Bole district features a small Somali refugee community.
“Heavy police presence will need to have caused their nervousness and state of agitation which resulted in the detonation that caused their own death,” Shimeles said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist rebels have vowed to exact revenge on Ethiopia for sending troops to Somalia to fight the al Qaeda-linked militants, alongside African Union forces from Uganda, Burundi and Kenya.Ethiopia says it's thwarted attacks over the past two years which it's blamed on domestic rebel groups along with the Somali insurgents.However, it's up to now been spared the kinds of attacks carried out in nearby countries – including the siege at the Nairobi mall last month and an attack on football fans in Uganda in 2010.
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