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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Zanzibar: Acid attack on two British women volunteer teachers | |
| 2013-08-09 | |
| [CNN] Two young British women were injured in an acid attack carried out by two men on a motorcycle on the east African island of Zanzibar, local police said Thursday. Five-to-one it's a Pak or a Bangla. The women, who were attacked in Stone Town, the island's historic center, had been working as volunteer teachers on the island, travel firm i-to-i Travel said. Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site popular with tourists. The Zanzibar government and a spokesman for the women's families identified the victims as Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both 18. The attack occurred Wednesday night as the women were walking unaccompanied along a street, said police Cmdr. Muccadam Khamis. The attackers, who did not take anything from their victims, left the scene on the motorbike, he said. Three-to-one. Another sad case of the cycle of violence... Eyewitnesses said the acid was splashed on the women's faces, chests and hands. Just like back home in Olde Karachi... The government condemned the attack and vowed to find the perpetrators. "The event is a great tragedy, and an attack of this nature against a foreign citizen, has never happened here before," the Zanzibar government said in a statement. "The government is appealing to the general public to assist in the arrest of the offenders and is offering a reward of 10 million shillings (about $6,000) to anyone providing information leading to an arrest," the statement continued. The government also said it would regulate the purchase of acid and other related products, and warned that such attacks could seriously damage the island's tourism industry, one of its main sources of funds. Police patrols will be stepped up in major tourist spots, officials promised. The women were given first aid treatment at a local medical center before British consular officials helped them reach a hospital in the city of Dar es Salaam, on the Tanzanian mainland, Khamis said. The UK Foreign Office is providing consular assistance and is in contact with the Tanzanian authorities, a spokesman said. The women, who were in the final week of their trip when they were attacked, have been discharged from the hospital in Dar es Salaam, i-to-i Travel said in a statement. "The motive for the incident is as yet not known ...they know but they can't say... and we will await the report from the local authorities in Zanzibar before any comment can be made," a company statement said. "The safety of our customers is of paramount importance to us and our own investigation will be launched as soon as it is possible to do so." Gee and Trup, both from London, are expected to fly out from Zanzibar on Thursday evening bound for the United Kingdom, the agency said. The women's families asked for privacy until they're reunited with their daughters. "Both families are extremely upset and distressed about this completely unprovoked attack on their lovely daughters who had only gone to Zanzibar with good intention," relatives said in a joint statement. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but it comes against a backdrop of rising extremist Islamist sentiment in the area. Last month, Tanzanian media reported that a businessman of Arab origin who had built a mall close to the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam was also injured in an acid attack. He is believed to be in South Africa for treatment.
The police, however, described the attack as "an isolated incident", refusing to link it to rising religious tension on the island between majority Muslims and its Christian population. The Britons were expected to fly home on Thursday. The attack came during the tourist season in the historic town and after a Zanzibar Muslim leader, Sheikh Fadhil Suleiman Soraga, was hospitalised with acid burns in a November attack. Two Christian leaders were killed early this year in separate attacks. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 Islamists reminding non-Muslims who rules or makes the rules. "THE FIVE'S" BOB BECKEL WAS DEMANDING THAT RADICAL MULLAHS-CLERICS PUBLICLY COME OUT AGZ THESE KINDS OF MUSLIM-LED ATTACKS AGZ NON-MUSLIMS, OTHERWISE THEY WILL PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOT BE DESERVING OF ANY KIND OF US OR WESTERN SUPPORT OR SYMPATHY. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-08-09 23:34 |
| #9 Introduce the perps private parts to generous dousing of acid. |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2013-08-09 19:56 |
| #8 No Charles, I object to charity for Third World. My objections are squared when the suckers are Jewish. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-08-09 13:21 |
| #7 Zanzibar is off the bucket list. Novaya Zemla is next. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2013-08-09 13:01 |
| #6 I think what Grom is trying to say is that after the attack after the singing, they should have high-tailed it out of there. I think that's a little harsh, though they should have been armed. From the article is seems this is a more recent turn of events in the area, and being foreign it's possible they were insulated from most of the local-politics. Tourist money and all that being important I'm sure. Now if they were teaching in Pakistan, or any 'stan for that matter, then they'd have to be idiots not to know the risk. Though considering some teachers I've had the pleasure of being acquainted it's a distinct possibility. |
| Posted by: Charles 2013-08-09 12:59 |
| #5 Because I'm tired of idiots. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-08-09 11:41 |
| #4 Update from IB Times: The men who attacked Katie Gee and Kristie Trup with acid in Zanzibar were part of a radical Islamic group that wants to impose stricter Muslim laws on the Indian Ocean island. Five men have been arrested by police in relation to the attack - two men threw acid in Gee and Trup's faces before speeding off on a moped. Religious leaders cited by the Telegraph say the men were followers of Uamsho, which wants Zanzibar to become independent of Tanzania and to impose stronger sharia laws. The men were taken in for questioning late yesterday and early this morning in Stone Town, the old part of Zanzibar city where the attack took place. Three of the men arrested have been released, while two have been detained by police. One of the men being questioned was the shopkeeper who is reported to have had an argument with the women while they shopped for groceries a few days ago. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-08-09 10:51 |
| #3 The police described the attack as "an isolated incident", refusing to link it to rising religious tension on the island between majority Muslims and its Christian population. I have never been to Zanzibar. Do they have Bayesian Probability there? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-08-09 10:36 |
| #2 because your heart is a stone? |
| Posted by: Frank G on the road 2013-08-09 10:03 |
| #1 For some reason I feel very little sympathy. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-08-09 04:48 |