Four feared dead in Nairobi explosion

An injured victim of the Country Bus Station blast is wheeled into the Casualty and Emergency section of the Kenyatta National Hospital, March 10, 2012. At least six people were feared dead after a series of blasts ripped through Landhies Road near the Country Bus Station in Nairobi Saturday. BILLY MUTAI

At least four people were killed Saturday night in a series of blasts next to the Country Bus Station in Nairobi.

At least 42 others were taken to hospital with injuries following the grenade attacks. Twelve of those injured were in intensive care.

Deputy police spokesperson Charles Owino, said the attackers were in a saloon car which drove off towards the Eastlands part of the city.

Police sealed off the road to start investigations. They said that the four explosives were thrown out of a moving vehicle over a distance of about 100 metres on Landhies Road.

Eye witnesses gave vague descriptions of the vehicle since the attacks occurred after darkness had set in.

Some said up to four blasts went off in quick succession, throwing the whole area into confusion. The area is normally busy with travellers picking buses to upcountry destinations and others arriving.

People scampered for safety as police and rescue services cam in to take the injured to hospital.

By 9 p.m. the Kenyatta National Hospital had received up to 42 casualties who were being treated for injuries, hospital spokesman Simon Ithai said.

Kamukunji MP Yussuf Hassan, in whose constituency the attacks occurred, praised health workers at the hospital for responding swiftly to save lives.

He described the attacks as cowardly and a despicable act which should not happen in a civilised world.

Security agencies

He called on security agencies to hunt down and capture the culprits.

The blasts came hours after Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna cautioned Kenyans to remain vigilant as troops pursue Al-Shabaab militia inside Somalia.

At a news conference in Nairobi, Col Oguna said Al-Shabaab remnants were out to cause disharmony between the forces and the local community.

He urged the locals to notify security agents of any suspicious people in the community and others visiting the refugee camps.

At the same press briefing, police spokesman Mr Owino urged Kenyans to be vigilant, saying that though the security agents were alert, the threat was still real.

Saturday’s incident was the third to rock the city centre since Kenyan troops went into Somalia in pursuit of Al-Shabaab on October 16 last year.

It also comes in the wake of a manhunt for fugitive British citizen Samantha Lewthwaite alias Natalie Faye. She is thought to be travelling with a variety of aliases after dramatically escaping capture as anti-terrorist police foiled a bomb attack plot on a shopping mall in Mombasa.

In October, blasts hit a downtown pub known as at Mwaura’s bar on Mfangano Street and the OTC bus stage in a span of hours.

Following the October blasts, police raided a house in Kayole and recovered guns, bullets and grenades.

The search further yielded an AK-47 assault rifle, four revolvers and a sub-machine gun.

The owner of the house, Elgiva Bwire, was later arrested.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said the suspect, was arrested ‘‘elsewhere before he directed the Criminal Intelligence officers to his single room on the third floor of the building”.

Neighbours said that Bwire, who lived alone, had moved in only a month ago.

His house had no furniture save for a small mattress of about four inches thick and a folded prayer mat.

He was convicted on his own confession and handed life in prison.

Bwire was also handed a 15-year sentence for Al-Shabaab membership and another seven for being in possession of firearms illegally. The two counts, however, are in abeyance.

Arms cache

The 28-year-old was arraigned in court in connection with an arms cache found in a house in Nairobi’s Kayole Estate and confessed to being a member Al-Shabaab.

He also admitted to being in illegal possession of firearms, including an AK-47 rifle, a submachine gun, two revolvers, 13 live hand grenades and 770 assorted rounds of ammunition.

Bwire, who appeared before Nairobi chief magistrate Gilbert Mutembei, also pleaded guilty to causing grievous harm to Mr Justus Mulwa and Mr Patrick Kinyingi.

The two were injured in the grenade attack at OTC bus stage on Race Course Road, Nairobi, on Monday.