Three Guinea fans killed by grenade

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Three Guinea fans killed by grenade

Jan 23, 2015 13:59:00

A crowd of supporters had gathered inside a packed bar in the nation's capital city of Conakry when a local man detonated the explosive, causing the fatalities

By Brian Oliver in Malabo

Police have confirmed three people have been killed and another is critically ill after a grenade exploded in a bar packed with football fans in Guinea’s capital Conakry, during their Africa Cup of Nations opener.

A transmission problem in the area saw hordes of supporters gather inside the public house, but disaster struck when a local man - who is said to have had military training - released the device into the crowd.

An eyewitness told guineenews: “When the grenade exploded, I thought it was a short-circuit, but the noise was too loud and there was a lot of smoke. Luckily, the rest of my family couldn’t get here – if they had, they might have been killed.

Guinea drew their opening game 1-1 with the Ivory Coast but their captain Kamil Zayatte said news of the incident had cast a shadow over what should have been a moment of celebration for the nation.

“We wanted to give the people back home something to cheer, and there were parties all over Conakry [the capital city] when we drew 1-1 with Ivory Coast in our opening game,” he said. “Then we heard about the deaths. It’s terrible news.”

The Syli Nationale have had a nightmare preparation for the tournament, being exiled because of the presence of the Ebola virus in Guinea, where nearly 2,000 people have been killed by the disease.

They had to play all their ‘home’ qualifiers in Morocco, and were abused at away games by fans who shouted “Ebola! Ebola!” at the team. Airport workers in Uganda and Togo told them, “We don’t want you here. You have the virus.”

Guinea are almost without support in Equatorial Guinea, while their rivals in Group D have large followings. Ivory Coast had large groups of orange-clad fans on all sides of the pitch at the first game, while neighbouring Cameroon, in the second match, were backed by about 3,000 supporters who live and work in Malabo.

Mali, who held Cameroon 1-1, had the biggest following – about 4,000. There are many thousands of Malians working in Bata and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s two biggest cities. All games in Malabo are already sold out.

Guinea’s coach, Michel Dussuyer, was asked by Goal if this put his team at a disadvantage. “We are used to it,” he said.

“If the people of Equatorial Guinea supported us it would be very welcome – we would really appreciate it. But we played all our qualifying games with no home support, in Morocco, and here it is the same context. We will just have to focus on our task, on our football.”