(Reuters) - Two Somali suicide
bombers who had planned to kill soccer fans during Ethiopia's World Cup
qualifying match against Nigeria on Sunday blew themselves up 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
5 km (3 miles) from Addis Ababa Stadium where thousands of fans were 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 large crowds gathered to watch the
game," government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said.
Explosives,
arms, hand grenades and 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 their own death," Shimeles said.
There
was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Somalia'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.
Ethiopia
says it has thwarted attacks over the past two years which it has blamed on
domestic rebel groups as well as the Somali insurgents.
However,
it has so far been spared the sorts of attacks carried out in nearby countries
- such as the siege at the Nairobi mall last month and an attack on football
fans in Uganda in 2010.
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