From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu May 20 2010 - 09:27:22 EDT
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE64J08V20100520 Ethiopia bus
bomb wounds 13, three days before poll
Thu May 20, 2010 9:05am GMT
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
MEKELE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - A bomb exploded on a bus in Ethiopia near the
Eritrean border wounding 13 people, police said on Thursday, three days
before elections the government says bitter rival Eritrea may try to spoil.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a war over their border from 1998-2000 in which
more than 80,000 people died. Relations have been tense since and the border
remains an issue.
"A bomb exploded on a bus with 25 passengers onboard when it arrived in
Sheraro town from Shire town at 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Wednesday night,"
Mustafa Seid, chief of police in Sheraro, told Reuters.
"Thirteen of the passengers are in hospital, six with serious injuries," he
said.
Sheraro is about 60 km (38 miles) from Ethiopia's border with Eritrea.
Ethiopia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday that Eritrea had
been planning a number of "terrorist" plots to undermine the May 23 national
elections.
Ethiopia's parliamentary and regional elections are the first since a
disputed 2005 poll ended with street riots in which 193 protesters and seven
policemen died.
Top opposition politicians were also jailed after the ruling party said they
had provoked the violence to force an unconstitutional change of government.
Mustafa said the bomb was concealed in a bag carried onto the bus by one of
the passengers. He said the man was not hurt and was being questioned, but
that it was too early to say what the motive for the attack may have been.
An explosion at a cafe in the same region last month killed five people and
was blamed by Ethiopian government officials on Eritrea.
The Eritrean government had no comment on that accusation.
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