Mbagala explosion

Dar es Salaam was hit by a series of massive explosions on April 29. A Guardian reporter wrote: ‘Thunderclaps…Quiet moment… More thunderclaps… Another quiet moment…Yet more thunderclaps… Yet another quiet moment… the random interplay ran on for hours.’

Deafening blasts from the military armory site in Mbagala, 14 kms from the city centre, tore through the city’s skies and left both people and buildings shaking. Some 20 people were killed and 200 injured and up to 7,000 houses were destroyed. Rockets hit sites as far away as 23 kms from the scene of the explosion.

On August 1 Defence and National Service Minister Hussein Mwinyi said that he was re-confirming some sensitive details of the report which had been prepared on the tragic bomb blasts before making it public.