Kenya faced a new terror threat on Sunday after a grenade attack blamed on Somali Islamist militia killed six people and injured 63 in a bus terminal in the capital Nairobi. Four grenades were thrown Saturday night only yards apart from a car driving past the busy terminal, Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said Sunday. Dozens of buses were parked in the terminal packed with Kenyans leaving for the weekend to visit relatives outside the capital.
While responsibility for the attack had not been claimed by late Sunday morning, Kenyan authorities blamed it on the hardline Islamist Shebab militia which Kenyan troops are battling in neighbouring Somalia. “We suspect this is the work of Al-Shebab, but all this will come out in the investigations,” Saitoti told reporters.
Al-Shebab has threatened Kenya since it sent its troops into Somalia in mid-October to dislodge the Islamic insurgents controlling swathes of the south, which it accused of a series of kidnappings and attacks on its territory. Deploring Saturday’s attack, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said “This is an act of people who think that they can puncture the resolve to fight terror. It is a difficult moment but it should strengthen our resolve and I am sure we will win.” Two people died on the spot, one on the way to hospital, while three other victims succumbed to their injuries during the night, hospital sources said.
