Four killed by exploding radios
2006-09-30 22:23
Juba - Four people have been killed in southern Sudan when the explosives-laden radios and electronic equipment they were listening to blew up, said police on Saturday.
Police have called for vigilance and said investigations into the explosions have been opened.
Three people died in the southern capital of Juba on Friday. Another was killed in a similar blast in Lainya, west of Juba, on Thursday.
"My brother bought the radio receiver that killed him ... here in Juba and left for Lainya. I was told by phone that on arrival he turned the radio on and was listening to one of his favourite stations when the radio blew up," said Alex Wani.
Police patrols discovered 10 more electronic devices containing explosives in Juba's markets. They said the vendors appeared to be unaware that the radios had contained explosives.
"We were able to detect some TNT from 10 small radio receivers and tape recorders," Captain Daniel Barnaba, who commanded the patrols, told Reuters.
Police said they did not know the motive for the blasts and did not believe those killed had been targeted individually.
The people of Juba are trying to rebuild after a 2005 peace deal between the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement ended more than two decades of north-south civil war.
"We were already informed earlier that some of the terrorists had smuggled some explosives here in the south, and we are still tracing them," said a senior security officer.
"There is a need to be alert and vigilant, for we never know what will come next."
He did not say who was suspected of being responsible for the blasts.