Two bomb explosions tore through two bars in the Ugandan capital Kampala as World Cup football fans were watching Sunday's final. Local police say at least 64 people were killed and an equal number injured. "The nationalities of all the fatalities will be released later," a spokesman said on Monday. One of them is a United States citizen, a US embassy official confirmed.

The blasts went off in an Ethiopian restaurant on the southern outskirts of Kampala and at a rugby club in the east of the city. The explosions have been linked to recent threats, by Somalia's al-Qaeda-inspired Shabab militia, to countries that have sent troops to the African Union peace force in Somalia. Uganda and Burundi are the only African countries to have deployed forces to the war-wracked country in the Horn of Africa.

US President Barack Obama called the fatal explosions "deplorable and cowardly," a spokesman said in a statement. "The president is deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from these deplorable and cowardly attacks, and sends his condolences to the people of Uganda and the loved ones of those who have been killed or injured. [...] The United States is ready to provide any assistance requested by the Ugandan government." 

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Correspondent Arne Doornebal was in the city at the time of the attacks, watching the football. What follows is his eyewitness account of the evening.

A crowded café
Ninety minutes before the Netherlands kick off against Spain, the upper level of the Café Iguana in Kampala is so full that nobody else is being allowed in. Downstairs, an extra screen has been set up so more people can follow the match. The vuvuzelas are blaring. Altogether 300 people, most of them Dutch, are crowded into the café.

Elsewhere in other bars, elated Africans are following the match, the closing event of a spotless World Cup that has made a huge positive impact for Africa.
 
Joke
Despite the mediocre game, the atmosphere in the Iguana is good. Until the start of extra time. Ronald calls me and says, “Bomb in the Ethiopian Village. 20 dead!” Bad joke.  “No,” he insists, “I’m serious!” To my surprise, noone else around me hears this message. Outside, I find a Dutchwoman busy texting and dialling. The American Embassy has called on its citizens to leave all public places.

Even though I still think it’s a bad joke, I refuse to let my wife - and mother of our six-month-old daughter – stay in the café. We might for all we know be the next target. I go inside and fetch her and the friends we were out with.

I ask myself how smart it is to start a panic-inducing conversation about bomb attacks elsewhere in the city. The owner agrees with me: for the time being, the café won’t be evacuated. Americans who receive warning text messages leave the premises. Richard calls to say, “Second bomb exploded.”

Evacuation
In the car on the way to the scene of the bombing, the Ethiopian Village restaurant, we hear a confirmation that two bomb attacks have been carried out. We call the owner of the Iguana, who decides to get all the fans out of his café, shortly after the Spanish goal.

On the way, we see hundreds of fans leaving bars as if nothing had happened. At that moment I don’t know the final result. I glance at a television in a shop window and see a shot of a mournful Dutch player: probably Van Persie. Closer to the bombed restaurant, it becomes bizarrely quiet and dark. Nobody is allowed in. A police office says 13 people were killed there, and “at least ten” at the rugby club.

Garden chairs
Together with a colleague, we shoot off to the rugby club. We aren’t allowed to enter. And when I see the photos in the paper the next morning, I’m glad we aren’t. People sitting on plastic garden chairs had been literally blown to pieces. Dozens of corpses stare back at you from their chairs. One of the photos shows somebody stealing money from the pockets of the dead.

The next stop is Mulago, Uganda’s state hospital. Chaos rules, with the injured streaming in all night. Some journalists force their way into the operating room to take picture. A Dutchman in an orange shirt has volunteered to help with the injured.

We’re allowed to look in on the emergency area and slalom between overworked doctors and injured victims lying on the ground. If you don’t watch where you’re walking, you risk slipping on all the blood.

A massive blow
A victim in a yellow shirt soaked with the blood of his girlfriend tells his story. About how thousands of 

people were enthusiastically watching the Netherlands-Spain game. How, shortly before it began, the Dutch Embassy had been handing out free T-shirts at the entrance. How he fell on the ground after a massive blow. Which was followed by a second explosion. He found his girlfriend seriously injured and carried her outside. A passer-by offered his car as an ambulance.

Around four in the morning, I leave this desperate place, intensely affected. Ninety minutes later, the death toll has climbed to 64. The sadness of the Netherlands today is nothing compared to the sadness of Uganda.