Borussia Dortmund: Oman residents saddened by ‘horrible’ attack

Muscat: Residents and football fans in Oman have been left saddened after the attacks on Borussia Dortmund’s team bus, which took place as the team were travelling to their stadium in Germany for their Champions League quarter-final clash against French side AS Monaco.
Three bombs were allegedly detonated when the team bus left the hotel the Dortmund players were staying in, and headed towards the end of the road on which the hotel was situated, about 10 km away from the Westfalenstadion.
The bus itself was damaged, while Dortmund’s Spanish defender Marc Bartra suffered a broken hand and had to be rushed to hospital.
The club have confirmed that the 12-time capped international will receive surgery to repair the fracture and remove several foreign objects from his hand.
“Why are football teams being targeted by such attacks?” questioned resident Raja Sankar. “It's crazy, and really sad to see the beautiful game of football being affected by this. This is the last thing you would expect anyone to attack.”
“This is a terrible thing that has happened,” added Zarshis Avari. “The football community as a whole should gather together and find those who did this and bring them to justice.”
Dortmund have postponed their match against Monaco, which will now take place on Wednesday evening, the same day their domestic rivals Bayern Munich face off against Real Madrid.
The club have moved quickly to accommodate the Monaco supporters who’ve travelled to Germany to watch the match: a classy gesture from the club saw them introduce the hashtag #BedForAwayFans, asking their own supporters to take in the visiting supporters and offer them a place to stay.
This too, has been lauded by football fans in the Sultanate.
“What’s happened is horrible, but then it's great that they're going ahead with the tie tomorrow and haven't called it off which is a defiant move in itself and a brilliant gesture from them to arrange accommodation for the travelling support for the next day,” said Purval Sule.
“It’s a fantastic gesture from Borussia Dortmund and the fans,” added Javed Ashraf Saiyed. “Even during a time of trouble, the club have truly shown their class and it is gestures like this that show what football is truly about.”
Police are currently investigating the bomb site, with early investigations pointing to the devices being concealed in a hedge.
A letter revealing the motive behind the attack was left at the scene, but German security forces are yet to disclose its contents to the public.
"All police and vehicles in Dortmund have been mobilized,” said Gunnar Wortmann, a police spokesman. “Three explosions detonating at the exact moment the bus passed by suggest a sophisticated expertise in both bomb building and detonation - perhaps using a mobile phone or a garage door-opening device."
The attack on Dortmund’s team bus is the first on a football team, since bomb blasts rocked Paris on the 13^th of November, 2015. France’s national team were playing a friendly match against Germany at the Stade de France at the time, when three blasts occurred outside the national stadium.
130 people lost their lives as a further 368 were injured in shootings and blasts at six different sites in the French capital on that day.