7.00 PM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

2 killed in grenade attack in east Kenya

Published
By AFP

Two people were killed in a grenade attack in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa, residents said Sunday, adding that a second explosive device was found nearby but did not detonate.

The blast happened around midnight, residents of the town said.

"It happened close to where my mother lives. The grenade was thrown into a small house on the edge of the compound of a church and two people were killed," a journalist who comes from Garissa told AFP Sunday.

"People are not venturing out to pray for the (Muslim feast of) Eid al-Adha as there are too many security personnel moving around," he said, adding that security personnel have been searching the town for explosives for the past week.

Residents of the town said a second explosive device was found close to the scene of the explosion, but the second device did not detonate.

"Local government people say they're carrying out investigations but they haven't announced anything yet," a resident told AFP.

Residents said at least two people were hospitalised with injuries from the blast, with some putting the figure at four.

Garissa lies around 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the Dadaab refugee camp complex where a police truck escorting a UN convoy struck a landmine on Saturday. The device did not detonate.

Located about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Somali border, Dabaab was opened more than 20 years ago mainly to care for refugees from the Somali civil war.

The town is also a military base and troops from here have been deployed across the border as part of Kenya's incursion into southern Somalia.