Zimbabwe president survives bomb attack at election rally
Harare, June 24 : Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has survived an apparent bomb attack at a rally in the city of Bulawayo.
Mnangagwa said on Saturday an object "exploded a few inches away from me - but it is not my time", BBC reported.
Video footage from White City Stadium shows an explosion happening close to Mnangagwa as he was leaving the stage having addressed supporters.
While the president was unhurt, state TV reports that Vice-President Kembo Mohadi has suffered a leg injury.
Mnangagwa says he has visited the injured in hospital. He condemned the violence as senseless and pleaded for unity. Mnangagwa came to power last November, ousting his former mentor Robert Mugabe.
The president was in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city and an opposition stronghold, to campaign for his Zanu-PF party ahead of nationwide elections taking place on 30 July.
People started running in all directions and then immediately the president's motorcade left at a very high speed.
The elections are the first in Zimbabwe since Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba told the Zimbabwe Herald newspaper that there were eight or nine injured people, most of whom had been attended to and discharged from hospital.
"Vice-President Mohadi is nursing some leg injuries but he is in good spirit," he was quoted as saying.
Marry Chiwenga, the wife of Zimbabwe's First Vice-President, Constantino Chiwenga, was also injured and pictures on social media showed the president visiting her in hospital.
State broadcaster ZBC also reported that Zanu PF national chairman Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, political commissar Engelbert Rugeje and some ZBC crew members were also injured.
The US Embassy in Harare condemned the attack.
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Kerala-born entrepreneur linked to Lebanon pager blasts, Bulgarian agency clears him of involvement
Wayanad: Rinson Jose, a Kerala-born entrepreneur and Norwegian citizen, has been linked to the investigation into the recent pager explosions in Lebanon that resulted in at least 20 fatalities and thousands of injuries.
Jose, 37, is the owner of Bulgaria-based Norta Global Limited and is suspected of being involved in the supply chain for the pagers used in the attacks on September 17, 2024.
“Although on paper it was BAC Consulting that signed the contract with Gold Apollo, Norta Global was actually the one behind the deal,” Telex, a Hungarian media outlet quoted sources as saying.
Reports suggest that Jose has gone missing since the attacks.
However, an investigation by Bulgaria's security agency, SANS, has cleared Jose and his company of any direct involvement, stating that no shipments related to the pagers passed through Bulgaria.
“Following verifications, it has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on September 17 was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” the agency was quoted as saying by AFP. It added that the company and its owner had not carried out any transactions linked to the sale or purchase of the merchandise or that “falls under laws on terrorism financing".
