Four die in mystery radio explosions in south Sudan

Sept 30, 2006 (JUBA) — Four people have been killed in south Sudan when explosives-laden radios and electronic equipment blew up, police said.

Police called for vigilance and said they had launched an investigation. Three people died in the southern capital Juba on Friday after one person was killed in a similar blast on Thursday in Lainya, west of Juba.

“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 of the 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.

People were urged by police to be on the alert in Juba which is 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,” a senior security officer said, asking not to be named.

“There is a need to be alert and vigilant, for we never know what will come next.” He did not say who he suspected was responsible for the blasts.

Juba is the site of peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army sponsored by the south Sudan regional government.

Those talks are aimed at ending a 20-year Uganda insurgency that has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly two million.

(Reuters)