BY ADOW JUBAT
Garissa, Kenya: Eight people are undergoing treatment at Garissa General Hospital after after a powerful explosion went off metres away from a mosque in Garissa town Tuesday night.
Garissa County Police Commander Charles Kinyua said the seven men and a woman were injured in the impact of the
blast which took place shortly before 8 pm.
Kinyua said nobody has been arrested in relation to the attack, which occurred five minutes after another explosive failed to detonate inside a busy hotel at Garissa Uchumi area.
He said that a man who police suspected was one of the assailants was later found to be a victim after interrogations.
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The county police boss gave the names of the victims as Peter Muthui, Mary Manzi, Richard Mwangi, Charles Nyamai and Paul Kilonzo. Others were Jacob Mumo, Joseph Kimanthi and Munyoki Musyoka.
North Eastern CID boss Musa Yego said they suspect the attackers was targeting a mosque adjacent to where the explosive went off.
“The criminals, who we suspect to be a sympathisers or members of the Al-Qaeda inspired Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabaab were seemingly intended to lob the explosive at a mosque in Garissa Ndogo area where the explosive device went off,” he said.
“We are lucky that the device exploded before the assailants reached the mosque otherwise we would be talking of a lot of deaths or casualties.”
“The criminals also tossed a potentially deadly hand grenade into Shranks hotel in Uchumi area of Garissa town, but their evil mission failed as the device hit extended veranda and bounced off a mound of sandy soil preventing it from exploding,” the chief detective said.
Yego said detectives on Tuesday night combed the twin scenes for possible remains of more unexploded explosive devices.
On Monday, about five security officers, among them two regular police officers, three Kenya Police reserves and two civilians, were killed in a gun ambush by suspected Al-Shabaab militia in Mandera County bordering the war-ravaged Somalia.
The militia also hijacked three vehicles and burnt to ashes a fourth one after intercepting them between Mandera and Arabia town. The vehicles ferrying Miraa were on transit from Meru to Mandera.
On the same day the Islamist militia has also gun ambushed a convoy of Mandera County security officers and peace elders heading from Mandera to Elwak for a peace meeting to reconcile two warring clans in the county.
