The Guardian Nigeria
Monday, December 17, 2012
KENYAN police said Monday they are holding eight foreign nationals from Yemen and Somalia in connection with Sunday night’s grenade attack in Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighbourhood.
Regional police commander, Moses Ombati, said seven Yemenis and one Somali national were arrested after the blast on Sunday night and are being interrogated in connection with the latest incident, which has sent panic among Nairobi residents, fearing for their safety.
“We made some arrests on Sunday night. We are interrogating seven Yemenis and one Somali whom we believe are behind the grenade which was thrown on Sunday night in Eastleigh,” Ombati told Xinhua by telephone Monday.
The police are yet to establish the type of device, which caused explosion along Muratina road, a few minutes from a mosque that was the target of another terror attack on December 7. About two people were injured in the attack.
The police have vowed to enhance massive operation to flush out illegal immigrants in Eastleigh residential estate in the wake of bomb and grenade attacks in the restive Nairobi.
Ombati said some of the bombs and grenades attacks which have been hurled in the estate, which is mainly occupied by Kenyans of Somali origin are prepared elsewhere only to be ferried to Eastleigh to inflict terror on innocent people.
About five people died while nine others injured in the recent attack which took place on December 7. Local lawmaker, Hassan Yusuf who was among worshipers from a mosque after prayers, suffered limp injuries and is recuperating at the hospital in South Africa.
Kenya has blamed Somalia’s Al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabaab militants for a spate of attacks in Kenya in recent years especially in Nairobi, Mombasa and northern regions.