Three Bombs rock Eastern town
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31 July 2006, ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Three bombs exploded early Monday in a remote eastern town of Ethiopia causing little damage and no injuries, police said.
One bomb exploded at 5:15 a.m. (0215GMT) at the Ethiopian Airlines office in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia's second-most populated city, leaving only explosive scars from the blast outside the office walls, said Cmd. Hailu Demsash, Ethiopian Federal Police spokesman.
A second bomb went off at about 10 a.m. (0700GMT) outside the post office near the city center, blowing out windows, Hailu said. Moments later, another bomb exploded near a bridge on the edge of Dire Dawa, but did not damage the bridge, he said.
"We believe these were homemade devices made out of gas," Hailu told The Associated Press on telephone. "We cannot conclude who is responsible yet, but we believe it is a terrorist action."
No group claimed responsibility.
Ethiopia has in the past said that Somalia harbors terrorists and accused a group of Somali extremists, known as al-Ittihad, of training, arming and helping Ethiopia's ethnic Somali and Oromo separatist fighters.
Al-Ittihad is listed by the United States as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida.
Washington has accused the group of harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, heads of a fundamentalist Islamic group that has seized control of most of southern Somalia, has been linked to al-Ittihad. Aweys, however, has denied being al-Ittihad's leader and said the group has disbanded.
Witnesses reported seeing Ethiopian troops crossing into Somalia in mid-June to protect the country's transitional government from Aweys's group.
On May 17, nine bombs exploded across Ethiopia's capital, killing four people and injuring more than 42 others in what police said was a coordinated attempt to discredit the government.
No group took responsibility for those blasts, which focused on government-owned companies and public transportation.
Groups often blamed for such acts include the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, two groups fighting for greater autonomy for their regions.
Both groups in the past, though, have quickly claimed responsibility for attacks outside of Addis Ababa. Agents from neighboring Eritrea are also frequently blamed.
