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Explosions Kill 10 in Kenya as U.S. and Britain Warn of Threats
Explosions Kill 10 in Kenya as Western Embassies Warn of Threats
(about 4 hours later)
LONDON — The authorities in Kenya said that 10 people had died in two explosions in the capital, Nairobi, on Friday, heightening fears of terrorist attacks in one of Africa’s most frequented tourist destinations.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Twin explosions hit a market area in downtown Nairobi on Friday afternoon, killing 10 people and injuring 76 others, officials said, adding to a series of deadly attacks in the country in recent months.
The blasts came days after both the United States and Britain issued warnings of increased threats. Hundreds of British vacationers staying at resorts fringing the Indian Ocean were ordered home by tour operators on Friday after a British warning to avoid all but essential travel in some coastal areas.
The blasts came after a number of Western embassies had issued advisories against travel to Kenya because of fears of such attacks. British authorities were in the process of evacuating hundreds of tourists from the costal town of Mombasa even before the explosions in Nairobi took place on Friday.
Much of the concern about security in Kenya relates to the Shabab, a militant Islamic group based in neighboring Somalia that has taken responsibility for attacks including the killing of 67 people at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September.
The authorities said that two explosive devices went off at 2:30 p.m., one in a minibus, and the other in the market nearby. Two suspects have been arrested and are being investigated, officials said. No group has claimed responsibility, but the authorities have attributed other attacks in recent months to a Somali extremist group, the Shabab.
Kenya’s National Disaster Operation Center said in a message on Twitter that two explosions were reported in Nairobi — hundreds of miles inland — striking a 14-seat minibus and a crowded market called Gikomba. One suspect has been arrested, the center said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
In response to the attacks, Kenyan authorities have undertaken a broad enforcement campaign, interrogating and arresting thousands of immigrants, refugees and members of Kenya’s large Somali community. Human rights groups have criticized the campaign as abusive and discriminatory, while Kenyan authorities have called it a legal reaction to what they call a recent escalation in terrorist activity in the nation.
The bombing was the second this month. Less than two weeks ago, three people were killed and at least 60 wounded when two homemade bombs exploded on buses along one of the busiest highways in Nairobi.
Officials immediately condemned the latest attack.
British tour operators said some 500 British vacationers were staying at resorts on the Indian Ocean coastline when the British authorities issued their latest warning.
“Many countries are faced with terrorism; it’s not a purely Kenyan issue,” President Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation address. “We must therefore unite to combat terror.”
Thomson and First Choice, a tour operator with many of its clients in Kenya, said the warning of an enhanced threat had prompted it to cancel all its flights to Mombasa until Oct. 31 and “to repatriate all customers currently on holiday in Kenya back to the U.K.”
Dozens of relatives of injured people gathered outside the Kenyatta National Hospital waiting for news about their loved ones.
A first group of vacationers arrived early Friday at Gatwick Airport, south of London, and a second was scheduled to land Friday evening. The evacuation dismayed Kenyan tourism officials representing an economically-crucial industry, who said tourists in the Mombasa area had not been affected by attacks.
“We are told that he is not well,” Jonathan Kandu, 40, said of an uncle who was taken to the hospital. “We feel we are not secure at all.”
There were few immediate details about the explosions in downtown Nairobi, the scene of a horrific bombing at the American Embassy in 1998.
Thomson and First Choice, a tour operator with many of its clients in Kenya, said the latest warnings of an enhanced threat had prompted it to cancel all its flights to Mombasa until Oct. 31 and “to repatriate all customers currently on holiday in Kenya back to the U.K.”
The latest advisory from the State Department spoke on Thursday of “continuing and recently heightened threats from terrorism and the high rate of violent crime in some areas.”
“The U.S. government continues to receive information about potential terrorist threats aimed at U.S., Western, and Kenyan interests in Kenya, including the Nairobi area and the coastal cities of Mombasa and Diani,” the advisory said. “Terrorist acts can include suicide operations, bombings — to include car bombings — kidnappings, attacks on civil aviation, and attacks on maritime vessels in or near Kenyan ports. Although the pursuit of those responsible for previous terrorist activities continues, many of those involved remain at large and still operate in the region.”
