Grenade attack injures 14, al Shabaab suspected

By CYRUS OMBATI

At least 14 revellers were injured when an unidentified man lobbed a grenade into a bar along Nairobi’s Mfangano Street.

Witnesses and survivors said the grenade was thrown into Mwaura’s pub located in a dark street, off Mfangano Street in down town Nairobi at about 1.30 am.

Twelve of the injured were treated and discharged. The al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility of the incident and the motive of the attack is yet to be known.

Most of the injured had injuries on their legs, faces, head and hands and doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital said they were in stable condition.

The scene of the incident is a pub that operates from a back street and it must have been targeted by a person who knows it well.

Police officers guard a pub that explosive went off and left a scores injured.PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO

Attendants there said a man had arrived and knocked pretending to get in before he hurled the explosive. He ran away soon after throwing it.

“The incident occurred when a man who posed as a patron knocked the door and when it was opened for him, he just hurled a grenade at the patrons inside and fled,” said a witness and bouncer who identified himself as Evans.

It went off injuring the victims who were seated on the ground floor of the bar. The bar has two floors and there were revellers on both.

Immediately after it went off some of the victims ran out for their safety and there is a likelihood others went with injuries.

At the Kenyatta National Hospital, the victims who had been rushed there were still receiving treatment at the emergency wing of the casualty department.

A survivor, Lawrence Kioko said he had walked into the bar and asked for a drink when the blast went off.

“I just walked in to have a drink before I could go home because I was working over night and that is when a loud explosion occurred,” Kioko, a chef at a Japanese restaurant in Karen suburb said.

"I heard an explosion - there was darkness and I thought the electricity had gone out but when I touched my face, there was blood."

Kioko head injuries and was on a stretcher when he talked to journalists.
 
Another patron Emily Nyambura said she had gone to answer a call of nature and when she came back to her seat, the explosion occurred before she could settle down.

“I have never been in a situation like that. The confusion and the screaming was just terrible. I don’t know how I came here,” she said. She had suffered injuries on the legs and nurses said she was among patients likely to be discharged.

The incident came days after Somalia’s al-Shabaab militant group threatened Kenya with an attack over the recent of invasion of the wartorn country.

The US embassy in Nairobi warned on Saturday of an "imminent threat" of attacks possibly targeting foreigners, one week after Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia to hunt down Shabab fighters.

The embassy cited "credible information of an imminent threat of terrorist attacks directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate, such as malls and night clubs."

Last week, Kenya sent troops across its border with Somalia to hunt Shebab insurgents it blames for the abductions of a British tourist, a disabled French woman who has since died in captivity and two Spanish aid workers.

The radical Islamist Shebab, who deny kidnapping foreigners, have repeatedly warned of bloody retaliation.

A victim of an explosion at Kenyatta National Hospital. A grenade attack at Mwaura’s pub off Mfangano Street in down town Nairobi early on Monday morning left 14 wounded, [Photo: Collins Kweyu/Standard]

Commissioner of police Mathew Iteere, director of CID Ndegwa Muhoro and GSU commandant William Saiya among other senior officers rushed to the scene minutes later and declared investigations to know those behind the attack had been launched.

Iteere summoned a security meeting in the morning to strategise the way forward. After holding the meeting, Nairobi PPO Anthony Kibuchi told The Standard a raft of measures will be announced in due course to address the issue of terror threat.

“We will know who they are soon. A number of measures are to be announced soon to enable us address this menace. But let everyone take a personal responsibility in ensuring our country is safe,” said Kibuchi.

Terror experts rushed to the scene to assess it as they kept mum on if they thought the attack was linked to Al-shabaab.

Those who visited the scene said the grenade was new citing a pin they collected from there.

 “The investigations will reveal if it is linked to Al Shabaab, but as you know we have been on high alert since last week when the Al Shabaab started threatening. I can not rule out their involvement,” Kibuchi said.

Security has been intensified in Nairobi in the wake of the threats. On Sunday, a suspicious object was found in a five-star hotel.

The object was found in room 574 of Intercontinental Hotel, which had been booked by a British national.

The grenade-looking object contained green capsules, which police officers said were personal drugs.

The visitor checked into the hotel on October 17 with a lady. He was to stay there until October 30 but he had not turned up since Saturday.

A cleaner who visited the room Sunday morning noticed the object and alerted the management who informed the police.

Security has also been heightened in most hospitals. The police said the operation to clear all illegal structures near vital installations and institutions that may be used as hideouts for criminals will continue.

The first operation was conducted around the Moi Airbase, Eastleigh where stalls and residential structures were flattened.