2 blasts in Nairobi kill 10, injure 70 more
Print Edition
TWO blasts hit Kenyan capital Nairobi yesterday, killing 10 people and injuring 70 more in the latest in a string of increasingly frequent terror attacks.
The blasts came the same week the United States and the UK issued renewed warnings about possible terror attacks in Kenya, leading to a bristling response from the country’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, yesterday, who said such warnings strengthen the will of terrorists.
Nairobi Police Chief Benson Kibue, who revealed the casualty figures, said two improvised explosive devices detonated in a market area near downtown Nairobi. One blast hit a mini-van used for public transport.
Before the blasts, the US embassy sent out a new travel alert yesterday to American citizens warning of a continued terrorist threat in a country where the embassy suffered a devastating attack in 1998 that killed over 200.
An earlier US warning this week said for the first time that the embassy itself is taking new steps to increase security “due to recent threat information regarding the international community in Kenya.”
Britain also warned its citizens this week to avoid the coastal city of Mombasa and beach towns nearby, prompting a travel firm to cut short the vacations of hundreds of British citizens and fly them home.
Security concerns have long been high in Kenya because of its proximity to Somalia and the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group that operates there. In September, four al-Shabab gunmen attacked an upscale mall in Nairobi, killing at least 67 people.
The US embassy says that more than 100 people have been killed in shootings, grenade attacks and small bombs in Kenya over the past 18 months.
Since the mall attack, Kenya has suffered numerous smaller bombings in Nairobi and Mombasa. Kenyan authorities, with the help of the FBI, also discovered a huge car bomb that could have caused massive damage.
Armed Marines now patrol the US embassy grounds in Nairobi in bullet proof vests and helmets. Increasingly frequent emergency drills tell embassy staff: “Duck and cover, duck and cover.”
“We know from experience whether it’s been in Yemen where embassies have been attacked or in Benghazi where our consulate and ambassador was attacked, anything that is a symbol of a foreign country is a potential target,” said Scott Gration, the immediate past US ambassador in Kenya.
Gration, a retired US Air Force major general who runs a technology and investment consultancy in Nairobi, said embassies “are always a target ... they tend to be a magnet for people that have ideological intentions.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
