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Kenya: deadly blast at Mombasa bus terminal | Kenya: deadly blast at Mombasa bus terminal |
(about 14 hours later) | |
At least three people were killed on Saturday when attackers threw an explosive device at passengers at a bus station in Mombasa, and a separate blast damaged a luxury hotel in the Kenyan coastal city. | |
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Kenya has blamed similar attacks on the al-Qaida-linked Somali group al-Shabaab, which killed at least 67 people at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi last September. | |
There have been a string of attacks since then. | There have been a string of attacks since then. |
"A grenade was thrown at passengers," the Mombasa county commissioner, Nelson Marwa, said. | |
"The attackers were riding on a motorbike and lobbed the grenade at the crowd of people at the bus terminus." | |
More than 20 people were wounded. | More than 20 people were wounded. |
Guards at the seaside Reef hotel said they had prevented attackers from entering, but that the suspects threw a bag with an explosive device into the compound. The blast ripped the roof of one building and part of its wall collapsed. | |
At the bus terminus, victims lay in a pool of blood and the road was littered with shattered glass from a bus. | |
"I didn't see who threw the object, but I heard a loud explosion before I fell to the ground. I then felt my legs go numb," said local supermarket workler Halima Sidi, 26, as nurses bandaged her wounds. | |
The Kenyan coast's large Muslim minority, many of whom feel marginalised by the government, has been a fertile recruitment ground for Islamist militant networks. | The Kenyan coast's large Muslim minority, many of whom feel marginalised by the government, has been a fertile recruitment ground for Islamist militant networks. |
Kenya sent soldiers into Somalia in 2011 to try to drive out al-Shabaab, which it sees as a threat to its own borders and security. | Kenya sent soldiers into Somalia in 2011 to try to drive out al-Shabaab, which it sees as a threat to its own borders and security. |
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the tourism sector was "on its knees" as a result of attacks by the militants, who want Kenyan troops out of Somalia. Kenyatta has rejected their demand. | |
Mombasa is a draw for tourists as well as a major port for the east African region. |