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Kenya, Uganda ramp up security after bus blast

22 December 2010 02:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Kenya and Uganda tightened security Tuesday and probed a grenade blast that killed three people on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi after Ugandan police warned of heightened terror risks over Christmas, APA reports quoting The Associated Press.
Kenya’s police chief Mathew Iteere said a Tanzanian man was behind the explosion and was carrying the grenade in a bag which he abandoned in panic as passengers were being frisked before boarding the bus.
"Investigations have established that the man who was carrying the Russian-made grenade is Albert John Olando Mulanda, born in Mwanza, Tanzania," he told reporters.
"We have also established that the grenade was destined for Uganda. It is only that the man became nervous and dropped it and it exploded. He died," said Iteere, explaining that the Tanzanian arrived in the country in August.
"So far, what we can say is that the man was acting alone and he did not have accomplices. He had with him a small notebook which had some mobile phone contacts which we are trying to scrutinise," he added.
Kenya and Uganda have ramped up security patrols following the late Monday explosion.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki promised thorough investigations and prosecution of those behind the blast, whose exact nature security officials here have yet to determine.
"The security of our people is paramount. No efforts will be spared to ensure that security is beefed up," Kibaki said in a statement.
"It is unfortunate that people can be so inhuman as to plan to use deadly devices to harm the innocent."
Uganda’s Inpector General of Police Kale Kayihura and his Kenyan counterpart said Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents were likely behind the attack.
"I am yet to get details about the explosion in Nairobi, but it is most likely that Shebab may be behind this incident," Kayihura told reporters in Kampala.
"On our part as police, we have put in place extra measures in form of foot patrols, motorised patrols and general vigilance to prevent not only terrorism, but also other violent crime," he added.
Kenyan police were seen Tuesday patrolling Nairobi’s busy streets where many travellers board buses to their upcountry homes for year-end holidays and festivities, an AFP correspondent said.
The Ugandan police chief told AFP Monday that authorities had received strong indications of threats by Islamist groups including the Shebab rebels and Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group.
More than 70 people were killed in Uganda in July when suicide bombers struck two Kampala bars packed with crowds watching the World Cup final.
"There is a big possibility that these terrorist groups may attempt to repeat their diabolical plans on the country," said the Ugandan police chief.
The Shebab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Uganda’s deployment of troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia protecting the fragile government they are fighting to dislodge.
Seventeen people have been detained for trial over the Kampala attacks.
Kayihura said Ugandan authorities were working with Kenyan and Tanzanian counterparts to prevent further attacks by extremists.
Kenya and Tanzania suffered the region’s worst attacks in August 1998 when al-Qaeda operatives bombed US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing more than 200 people.