Eight wounded in Arusha restaurant attack

Dar es Salaam. Eight people were wounded, one seriously, in a bomb blast in a restaurant late Monday in Arusha, police said Tuesday.

"No one died but eight people were wounded, one is in a serious condition," top Tanzanian police officer Issaya Mngulu told AFP.

"It was an improvised explosive device thrown through a window," he said.

The attack took place at the Vama cafe – an upmarket Indian restaurant popular with foreigners and wealthier locals near the Arusha High Court.  

It was not clear if any of those wounded were foreigners, though sources say the victims looked to be ‘of Asian origin.’

Survivors were rushed to Selian Referral Hospital, where doctors have had to amputate the leg of one of the victims, according to local press reports.

Two teenagers – a boy and a girl aged 13 and 14 – are among those injured in the attack.

The floor of the restaurant was covered in blood in the aftermath of the blast, with overturned chairs amid broken glass.

No one has claimed responsibility, but two people have been arrested following the attack, Mngulu said.

Both suspects are Tanzanians, he said, but offered no further details.

The Vama cafe blast is the latest bombing incident in Arusha, echoing a string of similar explosions that hit this tourist-friendly Northern city over the last 12 months.

In another violent attack in April, 15 people were injured when a homemade bomb ripped through Arusha Night Park -  a local pub packed by revelers watching a football match. 

There are no indications that any of these incidents are linked, or who is carrying out these brutal attacks.