Two major blasts, targeting the leadership of Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, rocked the African continent on Saturday, 22 June.
In the first incident, an explosion struck the rally of Ethiopia’s reformist new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at Meskel Square in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa city. And the second one struck the party rally of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, reported PTI.
According to media reports, 83 people were hurt in Ethiopia while the number of injured in Zimbabwe was not yet known.
Blasts Hit Ethiopian PM’s Rally
An explosion struck a huge rally for Ethiopia's prime minister shortly after he spoke and was waving to the cheering crowd that turned out to support sweeping changes in Africa's second most populous nation, on Saturday 23 June.
Addressing the country minutes after he was rushed to safety, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called the blast a “well-orchestrated attack” but one that failed.
He did not lay blame but said police were investigating.
According to PTI, Health Minister Amir Aman confirmed one death while Abiy's chief of staff said 83 people were hurt, six critically so.
“The prime minster was the target,” a rally organiser, Seyoum Teshome, told The Associated Press (AP).
The man with the grenade was wearing a police uniform, a witness Abraham Tilahun told the AP.
Police officers nearby quickly restrained him, he said. “Then we heard the explosion.”
The attack was “cheap and unacceptable,” Ethiopia's prime minister said, and added:
Love always wins. Killing others is a defeat. To those who tried to divide us, I want to tell you that you have not succeeded.
The explosion in packed Meskel Square in the capital, Addis Ababa, came after weeks of reforms that had shocked many in the East African nation after years of anti-government tensions, states of emergency, thousands of arrests and long internet shutdowns.
Blast Rocks Zimbabwe President’s Rally
In the second incident, Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party rally was targeted. While President Mnangagwa survived the blast, one of his vice-presidents and two other party officials were wounded, reported PTI.
A number of other people were also hurt in the explosion during the election campaign event in Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo, according to witnesses, but no official toll has yet emerged.
Vice President Kemo Mohadi, ZANU-PF chairwoman and cabinet minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and party secretary Engelbert Rugeje were injured, state broadcaster ZBC said.
“The president was evacuated successfully. He is at state house in Bulawayo,” said Mnangagwa's spokesman George Charamba.
“We suspect it's an explosion, certainly it was close to the VVIP stage.”
Mnangagwa had been in the city to campaign for votes ahead of nationwide elections due on 30 July.
“There was an explosion as Mnangagwa was leaving the stage. People started running in all directions and then immediately the president's motorcade left at a very high speed. Suddenly soldiers and other security details were all over the place,” said an AFP correspondent at the scene.
“The whole area close to the podium was then cordoned off but several people appeared to have been injured,” added the reporter.
Injured ZANU-PF supporters were taken to a nearby hospital where one man wearing a blood-stained party T-shirt waited for treatment.
Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu confirmed the “unfortunate incident” adding: “There were some injuries but I am still to get full details but as you are aware this happened close to the (president)“.
Bulawayo has long been seen as a bastion of opposition to the ZANU-PF and it was Mnangagwa's first rally in the city.
(With inputs from news agencies.)