At least eight people, most of them Indian nationals, were injured in a bomb blast in a restaurant in Tanzania’s northern tourism city of Arusha, witnesses said Tuesday.
The restaurant, which is popular with Indian nationals, is located in a posh area close to Gymkhana and Sekei areas of Arusha.
Juma Bakari, one of the witnesses, said the bomb was hurled into the restaurant at around 10.30 p.m. Monday by unknown people, according to Xinhua.
“I was moving on the roadside before the bomb exploded. It was a very horrifying incident. I had to run away to save my life,” he said.
Other people close to the restaurant said they heard a bomb explosion from the area, which caused panic.
It is not clear about the exact number of people who were inside the restaurant, as police in Arusha declined to comment on the incident.
“We are still investigating the matter, so I am not in a position to say anything,” Liberatus Sabas, Arusha’s regional police commander, said.
Paul Kisanga, acting chief physician at the Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre, confirmed that eight people, mostly Indian nationals, were admitted to the medical facility Monday night at around 11 p.m.
Kisanga said that all the victims were responding well to treatment, though one of them was in the intensive care unit as one of his legs was badly injured.
“We had to do surgeries for people to remove the remains of the exploded bomb in their flesh,” the medical doctor said.
The bomb explosion came barely a few days after a similar bomb was hurled into a house of a Muslim cleric in Arusha, injuring two people.
(IANS)