Eight people, including four Saudi Arabian citizens have been arrested following a bomb attack on a Catholic church in the northern city of Arusha, Tanzanian police confirmed Monday.
Arusha Regional Commissioner Magesa Mulogo said two people died in Sunday’s bombing of a newly opened church. Nearly four dozen people were wounded in the blast just before the church’s inaugural Mass, which was attended by the pope’s envoy to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, the Associated Press reports.
“So far eight people have been arrested, including four nationals from Saudi Arabia and four Tanzanians,” Mr. Mulugo told Reuters.
Witnesses told police they saw a man throw something from a motorcycle, prior to the blast. He was among those arrested,
“We are trying to establish if it was a home-made explosive device or a specialized bomb,” Tanzania’s director of criminal investigation, Robert Manumba, told Reuters.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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