NAIROBI, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and six others injured on Friday night in a suicide explosion in
Nairobi, the first since 1998 bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in what security analysts may be related to the Kenyan visit by the United State's Secretary of State on Saturday.
Regional police commander Anthony Kibuchi, who confirmed the incident, said that initial reports show that the deceased wanted to attack a supermarket in Eastleigh residential estate which is mainly inhabited by Kenyans of Somali origin.
"We are still investigating the incident but we suspect the man who had grenade wanted to attack a supermarket which was in Eastleigh First Avenue which lies a few minutes from
Moi Air Base, " Kibuchi said.
The police have not yet verified if the dead person was the suicide bomber or a passerby in the populated estate that hosts Somali immigrants in Kenya, about a kilometer away from Moi Air Base, one of the key bases of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) air wing that is responsible for the custody of the presidential jet and overseeing the capital's air space safety.
But independent sources said the man who had the grenade was the victim of the attack as the object blew up his head and injured six others who were nearby.
"The man who had the grenade tried to throw it at two soldiers from a moving car but it incidentally blew him up before he could release it. The man is the one who died," Samsung Okoyo who was nearby told Xinhua by telephone.
"There was confusion after the explosion but it has been contained. There are soldiers and police at the scene who are trying to gather details of the attack," he said.
The attack widens the mode of operations for the suspected
Al- Shabaab terrorists that have preferred throwing grenades into crowds of revellers and Church goers in various parts of the country.
In one of the most recent incidents, the suspected terrorists also staged a shoot-in at a Church in Garrisa, the main town near the shared border with Kenya killing 18 people.
The latest attack which occurred a few minutes before 19:00 local time came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was due in the country on Saturday.
Clinton who is visiting some African nations is expected to hold talks with senior government officials including President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday.
Clinton is expected to discuss the political developments in
Somalia in her meetings with the Kenyan leaders in Nairobi on Saturday.
The suicide bombing incident presents a change of tactic for the Al-Shabaab militias that have previously been involved in non- fatal attacks against themselves on Kenyans.
It also presents the challenge to Kenya's security forces that have to deal with the new dimension of terror attacks.
The warning comes as the country's security forces have been on high alert across the country especially in northern Kenya over an imminent suicide bombing attack by members of the Al-Shabaab group from neighboring Somalia.
Kenya sent troops into Somalia to battle Al-Shabaab rebels in October 2011 after several attacks, including the kidnapping of a French woman and a British tourist–and the killing of her husband – damaged its key tourism industry.
Kenya's government says armed attacks and kidnappings threaten the country's tourism industry -- a key driver of the economy-- that had bounced back after near collapse following postelection violence four years ago in which more than 1,200 people died.
Al-Shabaab militants have vowed to attack Nairobi after the east African nation which hosted protracted negotiations that culminated in the signing of the federal charter for Somalia in 2005, invaded Somalia to flush out the insurgents it blamed for kidnappings of tourists.
from XINHUA
2012-08-04 03:59:13
Editor: Mu Xuequan
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