BODABODA MAN CHARGED WITH BOMBING OF CHURCH

Mr Victor Ambrose leaves the Arusha Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday after he was charged with 21 counts of murder and attempted murder following the bomb attack at St Joseph’s Church in Arusha on May 5.

Arusha. A suspect in the last week’s bomb attack was charged yesterday with 21 counts of murder and attempted murder even as four people from the Middle East who were initially under suspicion were set free.

Mr Victor Ambrose Calist, 20, a motorcycle taxi operator who was arrested soon after the incident, faces three counts of murder and 18 of attempted murder.

Mr Calist, who appeared before Resident Magistrate Devotha Kamuzora, did not enter a plea because the court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the case.

It was adjourned until May 27 and Mr Ambrose was taken to remand prison. He is the only suspect so far in the bomb attack at St Elizabeth Parish in Olasiti, Arusha, on May 5.

The dead include a nine-year-old girl. Sixty other people were injured in the attack and 31 are in hospitals in Arusha, Moshi and Dar es Salaam.

The attack on the church took place as the Holy See’s envoy to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Padilla, and Arusha Archbishop Josephat Lebulu were opening a new church building.

The three United Arab Emirates citizens and Saudi Arabia national who were also held following the attack were freed after investigations established they had nothing to do with the killings.

Arusha Regional Police Commander Lebaratus Sabas said at a press briefing yesterday that the four were arrested as they were leaving a hotel in Arusha soon after the attack.

“Our joint investigations with the American Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol found out that the Emiratis and the Saudi were innocent and had no links whatsoever with terrorism,” Mr Sabbas noted.

“They are public servants in their countries of origin. They have been released and are already on their way back to their countries.”

The four are Abdul Aziz Mubarak, 30, who works with the UAE’s revenue authority, Fouad Saleem Ahmed Al Hareez Al Mahri, 29, who works with the UAE’s fire brigade and Daeed Abdulla Saad, 28, who is a traffic police officer in the UAE.

Mr Sabbas did not mention the profession of Al-Mahri Saeed Mohseen, 29. Arusha deputy regional Immigration commander Vitalis Mlay said the four had already departed