Nigeria Content Online

Somali Islamists
said on Monday they had carried out two bomb attacks in Uganda that
killed 74 soccer fans watching the World Cup final on television,

Al Jazeera television reported.

The explosions in
the closing moments of Sunday’s match ripped through two crowded venues
in the capital Kampala – an Ethiopian-themed restaurant and a rugby
club.

Al Shabaab
militants in Somalia have threatened to attack Uganda for sending
peacekeeping troops to the anarchic country to prop up the
Western-backed government.

Police said they
suspected al Shabaab, a group which claims links with al Qaeda and
which is fighting the fragile government in Somalia, was behind the
attacks.

“At one of the
scenes, investigators identified a severed head of a Somali national,
which we suspect could have been a suicide bomber,” said army spokesman
Felix Kulayigye.

“We suspect it’s al Shabaab because they’ve been promising this for long,” he said on Monday.

An al Shabaab commander in Mogadishu praised the attacks but admitted he did not know whether his group was behind them.

“Uganda is a major
infidel country supporting the so-called government of Somalia,” said
Sheikh Yusuf Isse, an al Shabaab commander in the Somali capital.

“We know Uganda is
against Islam and so we are very happy at what has happened in Kampala.
That is the best news we ever heard,” he said.

Burundi, which also
contributes troops to the Somalia peacekeeping mission, has stepped up
security, an army spokesman said in the capital, Bujumbura.

One American was
among those killed and President Barack Obama, condemning what he
called deplorable and cowardly attacks, said Washington was ready to
help Uganda in hunting down those responsible. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton also condemned the attacks on “innocent spectators”.

One bombing
targeted the Ethiopian Village restaurant, a popular night-spot which
was heaving with soccer fans and is frequented by foreign visitors. The
second attack struck the Lugogo Rugby Club also showing the match.

Twin coordinated attacks have been a hallmark of al Qaeda and groups linked to Osama bin Laden’s militant network.

“Right now the
official figure is 74 dead,” government spokesman Fred Opolot said.
“There is a white woman, one person of Indian descent,

10 Eritreans or
Ethiopians.” The U.S. State Department confirmed that one American
citizen was killed and five injured. The U.S. charity Invisible
Children said one of its members, Nate Henn from Wilmington, Delaware,
had been killed in the rugby club blast.

‘Cowardly act’

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni visited the rugby club.

“This shows you the
criminality and terrorism that I have been talking about,” he said. “If
you want to fight, go and look for soldiers,

don’t bomb people
watching football.” “This is a cowardly act by al Shabaab terrorists,”
Bereket Simon, the Ethiopian government’s head of information, told
Reuters in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian troops
invaded Somalia in 2006 to oust an Islamist movement from Mogadishu.
That sparked the Islamist insurgency which still rages.

The blasts come in
the closing moments of the final between Spain and the Netherlands and
left shocked survivors reeling among corpses and scattered chairs.

“We were watching
soccer here and then when there were three minutes to the end of the
match an explosion came … and it was so loud,” witness Juma Seiko
said at the rugby club.

Heavily armed
police cordoned off both blast sites and searched the areas with
sniffer dogs while dazed survivors helped pull the wounded from the
wreckage.

Uganda, east
Africa’s third largest economy, is attracting billions of dollars of
foreign investment, especially in its oil sector and government debt
markets.

But investors in
Uganda and neighbouring Kenya, which shares a largely porous border
with Somalia, often cite the threat from Islamic militants as a serious
concern.

“I certainly think
the blasts will make risk appraisals tighter on Uganda. If it does
transpire to be al Shabaab that will certainly raise the concerns of
Western investors and also Chinese investors in Uganda,” said Alex
Vines, Head of Africa Programmes at London’s Chatham House think-tank.

The Ugandan shilling fell slightly against the dollar on Monday after the blasts.

Ugandan tourism authorities said visitors need not worry about “a one-off incident that comes once in a blue moon”.

In Kampala, Somali residents voiced fears of a backlash.

“We are in fear and
locked in our homes today for fear of Ugandans’ possible retaliation,”
Bisharo Abdi, a Somali refugee, told Reuters.

“Some Ugandans are
saying ‘kill Somalis’.” In Washington, U.S. National Security Council
spokesman Mike Hammer said Obama was “deeply saddened by the loss of
life resulting from these deplorable and cowardly attacks”.

“The United States is ready to provide any assistance requested by the Ugandan government,” said Hammer.

On Saturday, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told Reuters the
growing number of foreign jihadists joining the Islamic insurgents
posed a threat to regional security.