Yemeni nationals arrested over Eastleigh blast

By Cyrus Ombati

Nairobi,Kenya: Nine people who include Yemeni nationals have been arrested in connection with Sunday night’s grenade attack Eastleigh that left two people injured.

Police say the suspects include eight Yemeni nationals who were staying a flat next to the scene where the explosion went off along Muratina Road few meters away from a mosque that was targeted a week ago.

The other one is a Somali national who was a caretaker of the flat, police said.

The grenade was looped into a compound that hosts a bar and exploded few meters away injuring the two.

Nairobi Area police boss Moses Ombati said the suspects were arrested for interrogation.

“It seems the target was the bar and the grenade was looped in there from a different compound but we will know more soon,” said Ombati.

Ombati said there was one grenade that was thrown at the scene adding police patrols will be enhanced in the area.

Eastleigh has suffered previous attacks that police have blamed on Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militant group.

Kenya says Al Shabaab is trying to destabilise the country after troops crossed to Somalia to crush and dislodge it from their territories.

It is the same area that Kamkunji MP Yusuf Hassan was injured in another grenade attack that left six people dead on December 7.

Hassan is admitted in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa after he fractured his legs following the blast.

Eastleigh was hit by two three attacks last month that left at least 14 people dead. The worst was in which an explosion went off in a minibus full of passengers killing at least ten

In November, police accused Al Shabaab of killing seven people in another grenade attack in the area. The attackers have also been hitting parts of North Eastern province in what officials believe is retaliation.

Last year, Kenya sent its troops to fight Al Shabaab in Somalia. They have now joined the 18,000-strong African Union (AU) force supporting the UN-backed government.