WAARABU WALIOKAMATWA KUHUSIANA NA MLIPUKO WA BOMU ARUSHA WAACHIWA HURU

Bombing: Tanzania frees 3 Emiratis


Dubai - Three Emiratis arrested in Tanzania after a deadly attack on a church there a week ago have been freed and are back home, the Al-Khaleej daily reported on Monday.

Tanzanian authorities had arrested them "because they happened, by chance, to be at the site of the attack", the paper said, citing tweets of the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry.

The trio were released with the foreign ministry's help following "co-ordination between the UAE embassy and Tanzania", it said.

The report quoted "informed sources" as saying that the three Emiratis had returned home.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry announced Sunday that a Saudi citizen who had been arrested at the same time as the UAE nationals had been freed without charge.

The Saudi and the three Emiratis were arrested along with five Tanzanians after last Sunday's bombing, described by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete as "an act of terrorism".

It was one of the worst such incidents to hit the east African country in years.

In addition to the three people killed in the blast, more than 60 people were injured when attackers hurled a bomb into the compound of the newly built Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic church.

The church was celebrating its inaugural mass at the time and was filled with worshippers.

- AFP