Two Somali suicide bomberswho had planned to kill football fans during Ethiopia's world Cup qualifying match against Nigeria on Sunday blew up themselves accidentally before carrying out the attack, the Ethiopian government said on Monday. The explosion on Sunday happened in the upscale Bole district of the Capital, about 5km (3miles) from Addis Ababa Stadium where thousands of fans where gathering for the match.
"They were Somali nationals and plotted to carry out a suicide attack disguised as fans on either the stadium or areas where the large crowd gathered to watch the game." Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said.
Explosives, arms, hand grenades mad football shirts were found at the scene of the blast at a residential address an hour before kick off, Shimeles said. three suspects were detained. The Bole district has a small Somali refugee community.
"Heavy police presence must have caused their nervousness and state of agitation which led to the detonation that caused ttheir own death. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Somali's al Shabaab Islamist rebels have vowed to exact revenge on Ethiopia for sending troops to Somalia to fight the al Qaeda-linked militants, alongside African Union forces from Uganda, Burundi and Kenya.
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