Bomb in Kenyan capital kills one: police UPDATE

Bomb in Kenyan capital kills one: police UPDATE

	Published : Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:10 By : Agencies Print this Story

NAIROBI (Thomson Financial) - A bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the centre of the Kenyan capital Nairobi today killing at least one person and injuring several more, police said.

'It was a bomb explosion and body parts have been thrown apart,' policeman Gabriel Omondi told AFP after the blast in front of the City Gate restaurant on Moi Avenue, one of Nairobi's main streets.

Anti-terrorism police arrived at the explosion site to investigate as security officers cordoned off the area from thousands of onlookers.

There was a huge traffic snarl up as ambulances raced to evacuate the injured.

'The anti-terrorism experts are here,' another official told AFP.

Rescue workers arrived at the scene and covered the body parts as well as taking several people injured to hospital.

Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali confirmed that one person had been killed and about six others wounded, but refused the give the nature of the blast.

'An incident has occurred, but at this particular stage we do not have very much to say,' Ali told a press conference at the scene. 'One dead, about five or six injured.'

'It was a huge explosion that occurred as I was headed to office, I suspect it was a bomb,' said witness Paul Mwangi.

Kenya has been on alert since January when the government said suspected Islamist fighters, accused of links to extremist groups, had fled fighting in Somalia.

East Africa has seen several Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks in recent years, including the near-simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, killing a total of 224 people and injuring some 5,000.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated attackers bombed an Israeli-owned resort hotel near Mombassa in November 1992, killing 15 civilians and three presumed suicide bombers, and unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down an Israeli airliner there on the same day.

tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com

slj

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.