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| India-Pakistan |
| Twelve tourists injured in Maldives explosion |
| 2007-09-29 |
| MALE (Reuters) - Twelve tourists were injured in a suspected bomb explosion on Saturday in the Maldives' capital, Male, local media and a witness said. The blast occurred near a mosque at the entrance to the capital's Sultan Park, a stop-off for tour groups in the capital. Somebody doesn't like tourists defiling their holy mosque? In London, the British Foreign Office said the explosion was caused by a bomb and two Britons were among the injured. "We have been informed that two Britons were injured. It was a bomb blast outside the main mosque at Male," a spokesman said. News media in the Indian Ocean archipelago said a Japanese and eight Chinese tourists were injured. Some local media said the explosion was triggered by a home-made device using a mobile phone and washing machine motor attached to a gas cylinder. A witness said he saw nails scattered in the park before the area was cleared by security personnel. The park is in the shadow of the Maldives army headquarters, and several surveillance cameras are trained on the area. More than 500,000 tourists visited the Maldives last year, and the tourist industry is the linchpin of the country's $1 billion economy. Bingo The Muslim country has a reputation for tranquillity and the capital has not witnessed gunfire or explosions since an attempted coup in 1998. Well, so much for that tranquillity. Can't be having that in a Muslim counrty now, can we? It's unIslamic. |
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| #5 In response to #3, yes there is reasonably high rainfall in the Maldives but the islands themselves are very low-lying and don't have the topography to support a fresh water table or runoff reserves. For water in those conditions, you have to build cisterns and bring in fresh water whenever you can - just like you have to do in many of the Caribbean island chains. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-09-29 19:15 |
| #4 Ok, where there be mossie tourists? Mecca, you say? Messina? Hokay |
| Posted by: rhodesiafever 2007-09-29 16:58 |
| #3 Ummm, What about rain? dosen't it rain every day or so? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-09-29 14:08 |
| #2 I did an evaluation of the Maldives after the 2006 tsunami that swept over the islands. There are about 80 islands, ranging in size from a few dozen square miles to a few acres each. Some of the main islands were heavily inhabited, while others were sparsely settled. The damage to several of the islands was pretty extensive, but the coral reefs limited damage to others. I think the availability of drinking water is more a restriction on population than land area. Many of the smaller islands have NO fresh water at all. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-09-29 13:50 |
| #1 Debka mentioned this bombing but also said that the Maldives had a Muslim population of 333,000. Are those islands that large to hold a population that size? |
| Posted by: danking70 2007-09-29 12:37 |