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At least one killed, more than 10 others injured in another explosion in Kenyan capital

25 October 2011 02:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least one person was killed and more than 10 others seriously injured in another explosion in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Monday night, media staff and police confirmed, APA reports.

Dan Obala, a staff member from the city council medical confirmed to Xinhua at the scene that the casualties stood at one death and 13 injuries so far.

There were contradicting reports of casualties at the scene. Benjamin Kioko Kiilu, the manager from the Kenyan Red Cross Society, told Xinhua that one was killed and several others injured in the incident.

The manager also said they did not know what exactly caused the explosion and whom the explosion was targeting.

Martin Mowgi, a resident in the neighborhood, told Xinhua that he heard a loud explosion which occurred around 7 p.m. local time and the explosion site was sealed off immediately.

Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu told Xinhua " We are piecing together details and we do not expect more attacks. "

Meanwhile, Police officer Binti Hamadi said an unidentified man hurled a hand grenade on commuters who were waiting to board their public passenger vehicles to go home along Racecourse road, a formerly OTC bus stop in downtown Nairobi.

"At least one person has been killed and 10 others seriously injured. We have called ambulances which have rushed the injured to Kenyatta National Hospital," Hamadi told Xinhua at the scene.

She said they have not established the motive behind the attack which took palace around 7:56 p.m. local time.

The latest attack came hours after a hand grenade attack injured at least 14 people.

"We counted at least 12 people who were injured in the OTC bus station. All the injured were commuters who were waiting to board the public service vehicles to go to their various homes after a day-long work," another eye witness told Xinhua at the scene.

The scene is a very busy area with several commuters rushing home after a day-long work.

The place has been sealed off by anti-terrorism police who are trying to establish the cause of the attack in downtown Nairobi.

The latest explosion comes hours after an unidentified man hurled a hand grenade on a nightclub in the center of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, injuring 14 people. The grenade was thrown into the Mwauras club early on Monday morning.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said investigations had shown no links with the Somali militant group al-Shabaab.

The explosion also came amid intensified security checks in the city in an effort to flush out Al-Shabaab militia in the east African nation.

"I urge the public to report any suspicious people and new occupants in their areas of residence so that we can be able to offer security," Iteere told journalists earlier in the day.

Witnesses and survivors said the grenade was thrown into Mwaura’ s pub located in a dark street, off Mfangano Street in downtown Nairobi.

The Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility of the incident and the motive of the attack is yet to be known, although Iteere said it was early to ascertain whether al Shabaab is behind the attack. "We expect to see these kinds of attacks, most probably coming from the Al Shabaab sympathizers in Kenya. We have many of them here," the commissioner told reporters in Nairobi on Monday.

Al Shabaab is a Somali-based terrorist group that at one time controlled large administrative areas of the lawless country. It has claimed links to the al Qaida terrorist network.