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One confirmed dead, 26 injured in twin blasts in Kenya

01 April 2012 02:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Kenya’s authorities confirmed that at least one person died while 26 others were injured in separate blasts in the coastal city of Mombasa on Saturday night, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi said three people were seriously injured in the first blast which took place in Mtwapa, about 15 kilometers north of Mombasa while two people were seriously wounded in the second incident in Municipal stadium in Mombasa.

Munyi said a passenger in a vehicle hurled a grenade at a group of Christian faithful who were holding a crusade at Mtwapa while a grenade was also hurled a few minutes after the first incident at View Stadium bar in Mombasa.

Coast deputy police chief Jacinta Kinywa had earlier told Xinhua that the first attack took place at Chandara, Chania booking office in Mtwapa about 15 km north of Mombasa where a group of Christian faithful were holding prayers in an open area, injuring ten people.

Kinywa said a man hurled a grenade into the crusade and escaped during the confusion as several people were running into different directions.

"The crusade was at a place called Nyambura where the man threw the grenade into a crusade in Mtwapa. The injured have been rushed to the hospital and the place has been sealed off," Kinywa said by telephone on Saturday night.

The latest incident comes as several Christians prepare crusades countrywide to welcome Easter holidays which begin on Friday next week.

There was also conflicting reports on the second attack in an entertainment spot in the Municipal stadium with some residents saying there was a blast while others said it was fireworks.

"There was attack in a restaurant in View Stadium in the Mombasa Municipal Council in Tononoka grounds but patrons managed to escape unscathed," said one of the residents.

The anti-terrorism police officers and rescue teams have rushed to the scene.

According to an eye witness at Mtwapa, Dan Ndambuki, the prayer gathering was almost coming to an end when the blast occurred, forcing the faithful to scamper for safety.

"The blast occurred at around 6.40 p.m. It landed on a woman before touching the ground. The woman was in a group of several others who were also injured," Ndambuki said.

Another witness who did not want to be named said the grenade’s impact cut off the woman’s head.

"It was very hard to know whether it was a bomb or a grenade because what we heard was a loud blast and people started scampering for safety in different directions. There was total confusion," the witness said.

The police said emergency services including ambulances had been mobilized to undertake rescue efforts

On March 10, at least nine people were killed while more than 60 others were wounded following multiple explosions near a busy bus station in Kenyan capital.

The latest explosion comes after two explosions rocked in Nairobi in October last year near the scene of the latest incident which were blamed on Al-Shabaab sympathizers.

The latest blasts in Mombasa come amid intensified security checks in the country in an effort to flush out Al-Shabaab militia in the east African nation.

However, nobody has claimed responsibility for the Saturday blasts in Mombasa.

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

However, the group’s territorial control has come under attack in the last six months from the Kenya Defense Forces after a series of abductions targeting tourists and aid workers that were blamed on the group.