New lead in Mombasa blasts as Nairobi hit

One of the buses destroyed by an explosive device on the underpass of the Thika Superhighway, Nairobi, near Thika Road Mall yesterday. [PHOTO: JOHN MUCHUCHA]

By CYRUS OMBATI and Rawlings Otieno

Kenya: Outrage is growing after suspected terrorists targeted two public service vehicles, this time in the capital city Nairobi.

The 5.30pm twin blasts on the Thika Superhighway left at least two dead and dozens injured, at least three had their legs severed. Women and children were among the casualties in the latest campaign of terror.

It came as police revealed that two men suspected to be behind a terror attack on a bus in Mombasa on Saturday had been arrested and released by the courts.

The two, Mr Suleiman Mohamed Said and Mr Jamal Mohamed Awadh,  were in the Masjid Musa when police raided it in February to flush out radicalised youth who were attending a banned seminar on Islamic jihad.

In the Nairobi attacks, Deputy head of bomb disposal Eliud Lagat said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were used to maim passengers in the two 60-seater buses.

Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki added that preliminary investigations indicated the IEDs had been planted in the buses.

One was headed to Githurai from the city centre and the other to Mwiki. In the first explosion, which occurred at Roasters, the impact of the blast tore off the right side of the bus and shattered all the windows.

Those caught in the attack on bus belonging to the Jeen Githurai 45 travellers sacco sustained serious injuries. Minutes later, the second explosion rocked the Mwiki–bound bus on the underpass near the Thika Road Mall.

Mboroki said seven passengers suffered serious injuries and more than 30 others had multiple injuries. The injured were rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), St Mary’s and Neema hospital in Kasarani.

VICTIMS

The Standard established at least 28 victims had been taken to KNH. They were 14 women, nine men and five children. Some had limbs cut off and at least one woman had both legs severed. The children some who had severed limbs could be aged between six and 12 years.

Among the casualties was Elizabeth Waithera, a mother of four, who was with her six-year-old son in the ill-fated bus headed for Githurai.

Waithera suffered deep cuts in both legs. She was separated from her sonduring the emergency evacuation. “I boarded the matatu that was heading to Githurai at Alsops. At Roasters I heard a loud blast that blew up dust, shattered windows and threw the bus in darkness,” Waithera told The Standard at KNH.

Last night, Deputy President William Ruto condemned the “cowardly spate of violence on innocent Kenyans both in Nairobi and Mombasa.”

“Our security teams are working round the clock to bring the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act to book. When caught they will face the full force of the law,” said Ruto, who is in charge after President Uhuru Kenyatta left the country earlier yesterday afternoon for Nigerian.

At the scene, shoes were strewn and a Bible lay on the road indicating that among the victims were worshippers coming from church. After the blasts, the bloodied victims, some unconscious, lay on the tarmac, as they wailed and screamed.

Earlier police and emergency crew responded to the attacks with about 50 ambulances at the scene. A huge crowd milled around the scene of the attacks that disrupted traffic flow on the highway.

Nairobi Area Deputy Head of Police Moses Ombati said at least one person died in the blast.

The injured were first rushed to the nearby Neema Hospital where up to 50 ambulances were on standby to take them to KNH for specialised treatment. 

DEATHS CONFIRMED

Earlier, President Kenyatta had condemned the Saturday night attacks in which “four deaths had been confirmed”, and said security forces had “already thwarted a number of attempted attacks.”

Praising the security teams, Uhuru assured them of “further support that they need to keep us safe,” adding: “My government’s pursuit of extremists and their agents will continue; under law, it will be intensified. Those who chose to murder innocents will be defeated,” he said.

But while expressing sympathy for the victims of the terror attacks, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) yesterday pressed the Government to disclose a roadmap for withdrawal of troops from Somalia.

“Today, in the aftermath of the second terror attack since the government launched what we advised was an ill-conceived and poorly executed plan to rid the country of militants, we are forced to demand once again that the Government presents us with a roadmap for withdrawal of our troops from Somalia,” said ODM acting Party Leader Anyang Nyong’o. (see separate stories)

In Mombasa, detectives were yesterday pursuing a theory that the two men were actually the attackers behind the explosion that wrecked three buses.

Experts also believe that a blast that occurred at the Reef Hotel outside Mombasa city at around 6.30pm on Saturday was a decoy to divert police away from the main attack that targeted a bus in Mwembe Tayari, with the planners even faking a traffic jam to allow at least one of the attackers to escape the area in a tuk tuk.

Additional reporting by Kelvin Ngare