Men of Kenya’s paramilitary General Service Unit
REUTERS
25 June,2012
A blast hit a night club in Kenya’s port of Mombasa on Sunday, and killed three. The attack took place a day after the U.S. embassy in the East African country warned of an imminent attack on the city.
Police said the cause of the explosion was not immediately clear but Mombasa, a popular holiday destination for Kenyans and foreigners, has been struck by a series of blasts since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October to crush Islamist militants.
“I am seeing one body. We are trying to
seal off the area as we wait for officers
to establish what kind of an explosion it
was,” said Ambrose Munyasia, the coast
region’s top criminal investigation officer who was at the scene, told Reuters.
Dead and injured
Local media said three people had been
killed in the blast at the night club,which
is situated in a residential area. Eight people were seriously wounded in
the explosion and taken to hospital, said
police. “I have no idea what it was. I just heard several blasts … something threw me and I fell on my back. Then I noticed I was bleeding from my neck and head,” said Richard Mutiso, lying on a hospital bed receiving treatment for his wounds.
One of the wounded was a nine-year-old
boy who had shrapnel lodged in his chest and thigh.
Three explosions
A witness, Esther Muthoni, said she heard three explosions at the club where a crowd had gathered to watch the Euro 2012 quarter-final between England and Italy. “I had just arrived and was having a drink as I waited for the football match to begin, then I heard an explosion, and another and another. I went down on my belly. Then I saw a car speed off and bodies lying all over,” said Muthoni. On May 15, gunmen detonated three grenades outside a night club in Mombasa, killing a woman security guard.
U.S. warning
On Saturday, the U.S. embassy in Kenya’s
capital Nairobi warned of an imminent
threat of an attack on Mombasa and
asked all its workers to leave the coastal
city. The U.S. embassy also said it had
suspended travel for its officials to
Mombasa until July 1.
The U.S. embassy warning came days
after police arrested two Iranians after
seizing chemicals they suspected were
going to be used to make explosives in
Mombasa.
“Economic sabotage”
Earlier on Sunday, the Kenyan government said it had written to the U.S. embassy to reverse its warning, terming it “a reckless advisory” and an act of “economic sabotage”. The acting head of the Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Francis Kimemia, said Kenya had the capacity to contain any terrorism threats.
Police said on Saturday they had
recovered suspected bomb-making
material in a working-class area of
Nairobi. The capital and other parts of Kenya have suffered a series of grenade attacks since the East African nation sent troops into Somalia
