Over 100 killed and 1,000 injured in Nairobi bomb blast
By NATION Reporter
More than 100 people were feared dead and thousands injured following the car bomb blast that tore through central Nairobi yesterday.
They included staff at the Ufundi Cooperative House and the adjoining US embassy - believed to be the target of the bombers - and staff and students at a secretarial college.
Volunteers tore at the tangled wreckage with their bare hands in a desperate bid to save some of the victims trapped beneath the rubble.
The bomb went off at 10.30 am - and simultaneously another bomb exploded at the US embassy in Dar-es-Salaam.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blasts, although political observers believe only an international terrorist organisation would have the resources to launch such a coordinated strike.
President Moi toured the site during the afternoon and ordered a period of national mourning.
He called an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis.
Among the injured was his Trade Minister Joseph Kamotho, 66, who was in his office at Cooperative House holding informal talks with US Ambassador Prudence Bushnell, who was paying a courtesy call when the blast took place.
Aides rushed Mr Kamotho from the building, blood streaming from his wounds, and commandeered a matatu to take him to Nairobi Hospital.
Mrs Bushnell was also hurt in the explosion, in which eight American embassy workers were killed. She was treated at the Gertrude's Children Hospital.
President Clinton confirmed the deaths and ordered US flags to be flown at half mast.
The effects of the bomb were felt across the city, with debris falling over a wide area. Windows were broken by the after-shock more than one kilometre from where the device was detonated.
As night fell it was revealed that several students were still trapped inside the secretarial college.
"One group of 12 girls has for the last three hours been speaking to us through the cracks in the rubble," said Runyenjes MP Mr Augustine Kathangu.
And he added: "I am disgusted at the appalling rescue efforts of the military and the police. There's no coordination at all."
President Moi condemned the attack.
