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A plume of smoke from munitions explosions is seen over Brazzaville, Congo, from across the Congo River in Kinshasa, capital of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, on Sunday.
BRAZZAVILLE, Congo -- Around 200 people were killed and many more injured in explosions Sunday morning in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, according to a senior official in the presidency, citing hospital sources.
"According to sources at the central hospital we're talking of around 200 dead and many injured," Betu Bangana, head of protocol in the president's office, told Reuters by telephone.
The AFP news agency quoted a European diplomat in Brazzaville as saying around 1,500 people were injured.
Congolese officials earlier said the blasts occurred after a fire started in an arms depot in a military base in the riverside capital.
Junior D. Kannah / AFP - Getty Images
The blasts from across the Congo River blew out these windows in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The blasts were felt across the border in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Windows were blown out there and roofs lifted off by the blasts, the BBC reported.
cia.gov
The victims reportedly included many churchgoers attending Sunday service in the neighborhood of Brazzaville, where the blasts happened.
Congo Defense Minister Charles Bowao later appeared on TV to say it was an accident, not the start of a war or coup.
"The explosions that you have heard don't mean there is a war or a coup d'etat," he said. "Nor does it mean there was a mutiny. It is an incident caused by a fire at the munitions depot."
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Was the blast caused by Divine Retribution, or can this news story give us some sort of reason for it? Sabatoge? Faulty equipment?
My condolences to the family and friends of the deceased, and may the injured recover with as little pain and damage as possible.
Maybe, just maybe, we will find out more details once the story develops further... It happened this morning, in Brazzaville, Congo. Did you expect our reporters to be over there in half an hour, or a detailed video explaining the reasoning behind the blast?
That information will be available to you in due time... I hope it answers all of your questions.
No, but I did expect some sort of speculation as to the cause.
Read the whole article next time.
Good reporters don't speculate. Facts only!
Why the hell would anyone place an arms depot in the capital? This story makes me happy I live in America, here we properly dispose of our arms surplus's in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
BigAl: Here in America there are Weapons Arsenals in many private homes. Who needs to have a storage depot with that fact?
There are weapons depots all over America, probably for sure in the capital. Any military base most likely has a large ammunition depot.
Ka Boom In Congo... This is a developing story...Ka Boom! Ka Boom! Ka Boom!
When I first read the headline I assumed Rosie ODonnell was the last one in line during the Congo dance and farted!
High altitude bomber, missile strike?
It is Purim. They are pissed that they couldn't bomb Iran. Gotta blow something up.
The second Iraq war started with a mass bombing campaign that killed about 30,000 civilians. That was March 20, 2003. The day of Purim which is the Jewish day of revenge. If you have not read the book of Esther you should.
Also the bombing of Libya in March 2011 started on Purim.
Can't the Africans do anything right? All we see is Muslim violence, starvation, war and disease!
Lmao. African immigrants in the U.S. have the highest level of education. That's one thing they're doing right.
@Allen
....besides giving birth to your ancestors that you made the mistake of continuing the bloodline... yes, many things. Now go back to your budweiser and cross burning.
Baldman...highest level as in 7th or 8th grade?
The sad thing - 200 PEOPLE DIED! Yet, because they are 200 people in Africa, they will get less news coverage than Angelina Jolie's leg. The stupid cruise ship in Italy got more news coverage than this! No disrespect to Whitney Houston, but the death of ONE WOMAN in America got a week's worth of media attention. 200 people in Africa dies - no one in the Western world cares...
@ Will; and how many of the things you mentioned will get large and continued coverage in Africa? News is custom tailored for it's audience so get over it and climb down for your high horse.
Fruity,
No, as in 19.4% of African immigrants in the U.S. hold a graduate degree, compared to 8.1% of Whites.
See: African Immigrants in the United States are the Nation's Most Highly Educated Group. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 26 (Winter, 1999-2000), pp. 60-61doi:10.2307/2999156
allen, you r so ignorant
@jonjojon
That is the flimsiest argument I think I have ever heard! OF COURSE MY EXAMPLES WILL NOT GET MEDIA COVERAGE IN AFRICA!!! They have more important things to worry about that Angelina Jolie's leg!!! Or one 48 yo drug-addled performer who died Hollywood. Guess how many women die in Africa every day from malnutrition, curable diseases, and AIDS! Nope, don't think Whitney Houston will get much media airtime in the Congo. They have bigger fish to fry!!! On a human scale, THAT is the bigger story, but the west ignores it preferring to be fascinated with our own little shallow pop culture.
What about the capsized boat in Italy? That DIDN'T happen in the US, but Cheese and crackers!!! We heard the flipping play-by-play of that whole thing! And not nearly as many people died! I will repeat - this did NOT happen in the US, but it got TOP US media coverage. I couldn't come to MSNBC.com for a whole week without seeing pictures of that capsized ship at the top of the page. Why did the US media care so #$%@ much about that?
No, it is not I who is on a high horse, but you who is buried up to your eyeballs in horse crap!
Over 200 dead and 1500 injured. Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that there has been 5 major explosions in the arms depot of Mpien armoured brigades barracks. 3 Chinese workers dead and 140 injured- they belong to the Beijing Conscruction Engineering Corp. Firefighter tough time to extinguish the fires because of continuing explosions. Houses nearby leveled people trying to escape from the chaos. Nearby Catholic churc where Sunday mass occurring -damaged, Democratic Republic of Congo over the Congo River from Republic of Congo-Braazaville where blasts occurring and where reporters see across the border river where windows blown off also. DRC's capital is Kinshasa.
Thank you for the additional information.
Mimi, thanks for the cross reference. More worrying than the fact of the explosion should be the fact that it was a Chinese operation at the center of it indicating a Chinese Presence of Military association.
mimi,
Thanks for the info. The news reporters should hire you. I am so tired of them referring to the "Congo" as a nation, there is no such place! This article is an example. There is the DRC and the RC.
This is what smoking does in a "NO SMOKING ZONE", also when you have illiterate and ignorant people playing grown up with sophisticated munitions, arms etc received from other countries.
Too bad the "No Smoking" signs were all in English or Russian.
@William
How do you know the Chinese workers at the arms depot were illiterate?
Where you there or do you assume all people who speak English as a second language are less sophisticated than yourself?
Just wondering...
Mean two seems intent on trying to turn this into a racism debate. Let me save some time. white men are greedy and evil. It is also Bush's fault.
@2112
At what point did I say William was white? I just pointed out he was calling people illiterate and ignorant yet he knows nothing of anyone involved.
Your little rant there did nothing but make me think you are suffering from some sort of guilt by association. Your presumption of me wanting to turn this into a race debate is therefore bunk.
Lastly, anyone who paints an entire group of people with such a broad brush is an ignorant fool in my opinion. So if you want to group yourself with such by all means you greedy, evil Bushman you. ( you voted bush twice huh?)
Allen-460794
Can't the Africans do anything right? All we see is Muslim violence, starvation, war and disease!
Allen, you are a retard.You assume a lot, you ignorant piece of garbage. Get out of your tiny bubble sometime, you will find that the Africans are not all that you have been told or seen on tv.
Ahhh, name-calling .... the last refuge of someone who wants their voice heard but doesn't have an argument. At least Allen is probably smart enough to post a response below the original comment.
denver
The only voice I see you posting is the one spreading hate and defending bigotry. Did you and Allen conjure this up at the last Klan gathering?
Mean two is desperate to scream racism at someone. And he also hates whites. LOL
Then gather your Klan members and leave. (Your avatar of Malcolm X, a Muslim and one of the greatest thinkers in American history, isn't fooling anyone)
Then you must be saying I hate myself. You dumbass, go back to your cave Klanman.
leroy,
You're right. mean two is a pro-muslim and anti-anyone-who-has-a-thought-that-I-don't-agree-with troll whose stock in trade is polemics and whose thinking is so muddled that he/she can't even distinguish between racism and religious intolerance. Ignore it and it will go away.
Congo: land of war
In the "last days", there will be wars and rumors of wars. That whole Northern region of Africa along with the Middle East is on fire.
This is why most munitions are stored in many small bunkers spread out over large areas. Even the smallest fireworks companies know this simple lesson.
may be god punish all those Catholics for using condoms
Go ahead and vote for your Puritan president again. If your lucky he will outlaw religion. Like China and Russia.
@2112 I only wish what your were saying were true. I would petition to have all you whack jobs put in the new FEMA camps and it would be done.
Are they targeting the oil pipe line here? Or perhaps a coup to take over the government and eventually the cash cow of Congo which is the Oil and Gold?
No. Who said anything about oil? Which, by the way, isn't an explosive material. Stay in school.
Read the article. It was an accident.
I have been hearing about violence in the Congo all my life. Will these people ever be at peace?
mean two, spoken like a total idiot. Africa is the azzhole of the planet whether you see it or not.
@ riverman
Africa is the azzhole of the planet whether you see it or not.
#12 - Sun Mar 4, 2012 1:37 PM EST
Theory, not fact.
being from another planet... i wouldn't know bout that...
Two hundred down, a few million to go.
I can think of a few million Americans that I would include, including you. You have got to be American since this is the most bigoted country still in the world
@ not radical
I gave your comment a thumbs up because of whom you were replying to. Keep in mind, thats what these people want. They are trolls, race baiters, closet racists and Klansmenwho spout their ignorance in an environment they have deemed safe. They know if they ever went in public expressing their beliefs they would be the laughing stock of all. They know their wrong but with the two year old mentality they harbour, they come onto blogs like this desperate for attention. Don't sink to their level by death wishing. Just pray they get institutionalized "help" they so desperately need if you know what I mean.
All the bigots I know, have mix-race grandchildren. See how that works over time?
alan, i kind of doubt that their starving and have diseases on purpose.
Maybe they are cursed for having 5,000 years of slave trading.
blow'd up!!!
real good...
I'm glad to read it was only an accident, since there is a lot of instability over there. I hope the injured get good medical care.
It is sad about the lives that were lost, but it is great that it was only an accident. Next time build your munitions depot outside city limits or don't have one at all.
I agree with you. It is incredibly sad about the deaths and injuries, but I, too, am glad that it was an accident.
It is a river port city. Many goods come into the congo river basin.
Someone put the lime in the coconut!
We will see similar over Tehran soon only it will be a Mushroom Cloud. We will call it an Iranian Suicide attack
This is what happens when you hide behind a wall hold the weapon over your head and fire blindly in the direction of noise.
I hope this truly was an accident. It is a very tragic situation and it would be even more sad if it was caused on purpose. My condolences to the families of the deceased, and I hope that everyone injured recovers swiftly.
I think it was radical Presbyterians or maybe those magical, omnipotent Jews and their Zionist conspiracies ... It simply couldn't have been a bunch of really stupid people, violent people and or the religion of pieces.
hey kingfish the lites out in here got a match
tarzan said hey cheta get the torch its dark in the cave
The really sad thing is that this won't change anything going on in that God-foresaken region.
my condolences to the innocents, but to the armed 'bandits' who owned that ammo? That's the breaks!