Africa

Africa

Terror attack on Nairobi mall thwarted: Kenya police

09 September 2015 01:53 (UTC +04:00)

“A man was detained after trying to access the Garden City Mall with three improvised explosive devices,” police spokesman George Kinoti told Anadolu Agency.

“The devices were wrapped in a polythene bag and connected to a telephone,” Kinoti said.

The new Garden City Mall is scheduled to officially open on Wednesday, drawing huge crowds of shoppers.

“According to the bomb-disposal team, the devices were wireless explosives,” the police spokesman said, adding: “The team has already destroyed them.”

Police have since reassured Kenyans that the mall was safe to visit on Wednesday and that security in the area had been stepped up.

In 2013, gunmen stormed Kenya’s Westgate Mall – a tourist hotspot – where they killed 67 people and injured more than 100 others.

Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, vowing to stage more attacks on Kenyan soil until Kenya withdrew its military forces from Somalia.

In April, Al-Shabaab carried out a bloody attack on a university in northern Kenya in which more than 140 people – mostly students – were killed.