Riots in Eastleigh in wake of Matatu attack

Rioters engage police in running battles along Juja road on November 19, 2012. PHOTO / JENNIFER MUIRURI

Business premises closed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, on Monday as police engaged riotous youths in running battles along Juja road in wake of the matatu explosion.

Initial reports indicated that the youths were targeting civilians of Somali origin.

Anti-riot police were heavily deployed to the Eastleigh area in the mid-morning to repulse the stone-throwing youths.

An AFP reporter at the scene said police used tear gas and fired into the air to contain the violence.

"There is chaos. Several people have been injured but we are doing everything possible to contain the riots," Moses Nyakwama, Nairobi Police chief told AFP by phone.

Most businesses in the area remained closed and roads were blocked for part of the morning as youths from the two communities staged running battles. Several motorists were stoned in their cars.

An AFP reporter at the scene counted seven people being rushed to hospital. Bystanders said several others had been taken for treatment earlier in the morning.

"Three of my relatives have been taken to hospital after they were beaten up, we are being accused of causing insecurity and bombings, yet we don't know who is doing it, let the government protect us," Abdulahi Hassan, a trader, said.

"I closed my shop and stayed in front to guard it after we were attacked by youths throwing stones," said Ali Sheikh Ahmed, who sells gold and jewellery.

"We are not Al-Shabaab members and we are not accountable for their actions," she said.

Kenya has suffered a wave of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on sympathisers of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgents, since its army went into Somalia last year.