Police say Mombasa blast attacker was a wanted terrorist

By David Ochami in Mombasa  and Cyrus Ombati in Nairobi

Police have arrested a suspect involved in the Tuesday night terror attack in a restaurant in Mombasa.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere announced  the suspect now under police guard was a wanted man on the terror list.

Said Iteere in Nairobi:" He was found with a bus ticket and had planned to return to Nairobi at 10pm after the attack."

The man was among five people injured in the blast. He is currently under armed guard at the Coast General Hospital undergoing treatment.

The police boss added that officers went to the bus station and searched his luggage and retrieved a magazine with eight rounds of ammunition and a laptop he is believed to have used to communicate with his accomplices.

There has been no claim of responsibility but police say sympathisers of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terror group are the prime suspects.

One woman was killed and several other people injured when two or three men armed with guns and grenades attacked the Bella Vista night club and restaurant on Moi Avenue.

The woman, whose name is yet to be released to the public, is said to have blocked the terrorists from entering the hotel building with their weapons.

She was fatally injured and later died of her injuries at the Aga Khan hospital.

Eyewitnesses said they saw two or three men arguing with security guards at the hotel’s entrance  between 9.30 and 10pm.

They refused to be searched in the security checks. A struggle ensued during which shots were fired by the suspected terrorists and followed shortly by two explosions.

Police arrived at the scene, evacuated the building and sealed off entry to the hotel.

Witnesses said they saw at least three critically injured people being taken away from the scene of crime.

Meanwhile, a man arrested in connection with a similar grenade attack in Nairobi last month has been charged in a Nairobi court. Mr Ibrahim Kagwe was released on a cash bail of Sh500,000 after pleading not guilty to six counts of causing bodily harm at the God House of Miracles church in Ngara.

Kagwe was also charged with being a member of Al Shabaab, which is a proscribed body.