Explosion Kills, Injures Worshipers at Inaugural Mass in Tanzania

At least two dead, dozens wounded in blast

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

ARUSHA, TANZANIA (ANS) -- Fear and grief rocked a predominantly Christian area of northern Tanzania on Sunday, May 5, 2013, after an unidentified man reportedly hurled an explosive device at the inaugural Mass of a new church building, killing two worshipers.

Wounded churchgoers lie on the ground after an explosion at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Tanzania's northern city of Arusha, on May 5, 2013 (Photo: www.presstv.ir)

The Vatican ambassador to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, was in attendance as Mass was about to be celebrated at the new building on the outskirts of Arusha. Neither he nor Arusha Catholic Diocese Archbishop Josaphat Louis Lebulu were among the more than 40 people injured, a source in Tanzania told Morning Star News (http://morningstarnews.org).

According to their East Africa Correspondent, a hospital confirmed two people were killed in the explosion at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, which occurred before 11 a.m. when an unidentified man on a motorcycle reportedly hurled an explosive device over the church fence. One of those killed was identified as Regina Loning'o Kuresoi, and among the injured were two 12-year-olds, according to press reports.

He went on to say, "Worshipers were packed into the new church building when the explosion went off, the source said."

"It was a colorful celebration with joyous mood when a frightening explosion took place, coupled with loud shouts and crying of the church members," one church member told the source.

Tanzania's Vice President Mohamed Gharib Bilal visits Mount Meru Hospital and consoles a man injured during an explosion at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Arusha, Tanzania (CNS photo/Reuters)

Police reportedly said four Saudi Arabian nationals and two Tanzanian citizens had been arrested, including the driver of the motorcycle. Officials urged calm in the face of furious residents. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

"Terrorist groups have not been active in Tanzania since the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in 1998, but President Jakaya Kikwete termed Sunday's explosion a terrorist attack," said the story.

"Previously police had warned of possible violence by Al Qaeda that could include involvement of its Somalia-based partner, Al Shabaab, the source said. At the same time, some area residents believe elements bent on creating religious conflict were behind the explosion, he added.

"Tanzania and especially its Zanzibar archipelago have recently suffered attacks by the separatist group Uamsho (Re-awakening). Uamsho, the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation, has threatened Christians on Zanzibar Island since October 2012."

With a population that is 34.2 percent Muslim, Tanzania is 54 percent Christian; most of the rest of religious adherents hold ethnic tribal beliefs, according to Operation World.

A church on fire in Zanzibar

The East Africa correspondent stated that Tanzania Episcopal Conference Secretary General Anthony Makunde said the blast was part of ongoing, religiously motivated chaos that has left church buildings destroyed and Christian leaders dead. Suspected Islamic extremists on Feb. 17 shot and killed a Roman Catholic priest in Zanzibar; two assailants on a motorbike approached the Rev. Evaristus Mushi as he arrived in his car to the Mass he was about to officiate in the Mtoni area outside Zanzibar City.

Last Christmas Day, suspected Islamic extremists on a motorcycle shot the Rev. Ambrose Mkenda, a Roman Catholic priest, through his cheeks and in the shoulder as he arrived home in Tomondo, about four miles from Zanzibar City; he survived.

Islamists burned several church buildings in various parts of Tanzania last October after two children's argument about the Koran resulted in a Christian boy allegedly defiling Islam's sacred book (see Morning Star News, Oct. 19, 2012). In Kigoma, on the western border, two church buildings were set ablaze on Oct. 14, and the roof of another one was destroyed; on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean some 25 kilometers (16 miles) off the Tanzanian coast, Muslim extremists on Oct. 13 demolished a building belonging to the Evangelical Assemblies of God-Tanzania (EAGT) in Fuoni, near Zanzibar City; and in Dar es Salaam, where two boys' argument over the Koran set off the violence, three church buildings were set on fire on Oct. 12, and another was destroyed on Oct. 18.

The story added, "The attacks on church buildings came after Muslims began falsely asserting that Christians had sent the Christian boy to the Muslim boy to urinate on the Koran in the Mbagala area of Dar es Salaam on Oct. 10, sources said.

"On Oct. 17, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania leaders released a statement saying churches had also been set ablaze in Mdaula, Mto wa Mbu, Tunduru and Rufiji. The Mbagala attacks, they stated, resulted from inflammatory statements by local religious leaders. They also blamed media outlets for instigating religious hatred."