Security team escapes death from explosive hurled at their vehicle

By Tobias Chanji

An explosion rocked Diani police station, Kwale County sparking panic among residents smarting from last week’s discotheque grenade blast that injured 10 people.

Msambweni OCPD Jack Ekakoro told The Standard the blast was caused by a controlled detonation of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which luckily failed to explode after it was hurled at a police vehicle on Sunday night.

Eyewitnesses said the explosive device was buried underground and disarmed using an electric charge. No one was hurt and no property was damaged.

Although Mr Ekakoro declined to reveal the nature of the IED, only describing it as a “locally assembled implement”, experts at the scene said it was similar to the ones used by insurgents in Somalia.

According to eyewitnesses, the device was light and largely made of plastic, cables and inflammable material that is easy to move around without detection.

The Anti-terror Police Unit  (ATU) decided to disarm it in Kwale after determining it was too dangerous to move to Mombasa as earlier planned.

Despite the huge blast, Ekakoro was still describing it as “not an explosive per se” because it was not industrially manufactured and did not have any inscriptions “describing it as a grenade”.

Following the incident, no suspect has been arrested yet.

Police say the intention of the assailant may have been to sabotage the tourism industry in Kwale as well as the fight against insecurity.

Ekakoro said the targeted police vehicle was on patrol along the Mombasa-LungaLunga highway.

“The incident happened at Kona ya Musa in Diani where our officers were on night patrol at around 8.20pm,” explained Ekakoro.

Terror theory

Ekakoro dismissed suggestions the attempted attack on was a terrorist act, but intelligence sources said the ATU are pursuing that hypothesis with an interest in the newly minted jihadists from Somalia.

Concerning the Tandoori attack last week, Ekakoro said police were still following crucial leads but are yet to make any arrests.

Seven of the injured were admitted at Msambweni District Hospital. Three were due for surgery on Sunday at the Palm Beach Hospital to remove shrapnel.