The explosions took place in two bars, where a crowd watched football in the World Cup final, Fred Opolot, director of the Uganda Media Center, told reporters today in the city. The first explosion went to an Ethiopian village restaurant in the south of Kampala at 10:25 pm local time and after the second in club rugby Kyadondo at 11:15 pm, he said. Some of the 67 injured later died in hospital, James Kakooza, Minister of State for Health, said in a telephone interview.
"In accordance with the Inspector General of Police, is an indication of this is connected with al-Shabaab," "Felix Kulayigye, the representative of the Ugandan army, said in a telephone interview today." This terrorist act. The aim is to instil fear. "
Ugandan soldiers are often led by the African Union peacekeeping in Somalia, where al-Shabaab was the fight Western-backed government of the country, starting in 2007. The U.S. accuses al-Shabaab "in connection with Al-Qaeda, said that the plans to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. Burundi as peacekeepers in Somalia.
Al-Shabaab "said that they would attack Ugandan and Burundi, many times in the past because in the army," Rashid Abdi, the Horn of Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group, said in a telephone interview today from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. "This was simply a matter of time. He walked. "
American killed
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni condemned the attack and said the country's security forces would hunt down the criminals.
"We will look at them and get them wherever they are," Museveni told journalists today.
Uganda Shilling weakened 0.5 percent to 2,275 against the U.S. dollar, low level of 2 July.
An American citizen was among those killed in the blasts, Joan Lockard, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Kampala, said in a telephone interview.
"Americans were hurt, but I do not have any details," she said. More information will be released later today, Lockard said.
Condemnation
"I join President Obama strongly condemns the attack today in Kampala, Uganda, targeting innocent spectators watching a World Cup final," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement on the website of the State Department. "We have a long-standing, close friendship with the people and Government of Uganda and will work with them to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice."
The Ethiopian Government said he was trying to establish whether its citizens were killed in the explosions. U.S. support, Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia in December 2006 to overthrow the Islamic government, which seized the southern part of Somalia. They came out in January 2009.
"There has been no recent threats particularly in Ethiopia, but we know that the Somali factions said they would launch attacks on peacekeepers countries," Minister of Communications and Ethiopian Bereket Simon said in an interview from Addis Ababa. "Such cowardly acts occur in periods of weak security, but also in Ethiopia, we are preparing to get rid of this opportunity."
Attack Welcomed
Abdikarim Sheikh Abdullahi Yusuf, al-Shabaab leader contacted by mobile phone in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, said he was not authorized to comment on the bombings, although he welcomed the attack.
"I do not know who was responsible, but it is my pleasure to hear such a story," he said.
Uganda has 2700 soldiers in Somalia and Burundi, 2550, according to the Web site Francophone Research Network on Peace Operations.
The leader of al-Shabaab, also known as Abu-Zubeyr, last week threatened to take revenge on Uganda and Burundi nationals in connection with the deaths of civilians in Somalia.
"Uganda and Burundi, the population will be responsible for the massacre in the current Mogadishu, many children, adolescents, women and elderly dead," Abu-Zubeyr said in an audio tape made available to journalists on July 4.
Enhanced strength
Last week, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Djibouti "body, which groups six East African countries, called for a peacekeeping mission in Somalia for the deployment of additional 2,000 soldiers to help the government fight" extremist groups ".
Yesterday's attack "may be a message on the frontline states - Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and also including Burundi - that strengthening the military intervention will be met by these types of attacks," said Abdi.
Of Uganda, with a population of more than 30 million people and the economy of $ 16,4 billion dollars, will start commercial oil production in the next year, when Tullow Oil Plc starts out on the field Kasamene. Tullow, based in London, said in an e-mail statement that none of its operations were affected by the bombings, although Kampala, employees were encouraged to stay home today.
East African nation, about the size of the U.S. state of Oregon, is the largest exporter of the continent's robusta coffee.
By Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu, Eduard Gismatullin in London, William Davison in Addis Ababa, Henry Meyer in Dubai and Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg.
