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Kenya arrests bombing suspects

March 12, 2012

Police in Nairobi have arrested four people suspected of participating in the grenade attack on a bus station over the weekend. Authorities suspect al Shabab may have organized the bombing.

https://p.dw.com/p/14JFa
A paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) police officer stands guard in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, 24 October 2011. Kenyan police has beefed up security in the capital following the grenade attack in the early morning that injured more than a dozen people.
Polizist steht Wache in der Innenstadt von Nairobi KeniaImage: picture-alliance/dpa

Kenyan police arrested four suspects on Monday in connection with a fatal grenade attack at a Nairobi bus station, which authorities blame on the Somalia-based Islamist militant group al Shabab.

"On the al-Shabab threats and attacks at the Machakos bus terminus, four highly suspected criminals were arrested and are undergoing intensive interrogation," Nairobi Provincial Police chief Antony Kibuchi said.

On Saturday, witnesses reported that three grenades were thrown from a moving vehicle at the open-air bus terminal. At least six people were killed and more than 60 wounded in the attack, the worst of its kind in nearly two years.

The suspects, all of whom were believed to be Kenyan nationals, were being interrogated by special police units that included anti-terrorism officers. Three of the suspects are minors.

One of the men arrested is on a police wanted list for having ties to al Shabab and its Kenyan affiliates. Al Shabab has launched several attacks since Kenya sent troops to southern Somalia in October 2011 to defeat the al Qaeda-linked group, which is listed by the United States, the United Kingdom and several other countries as a terrorist organization.

In addition to Kenya, the African Union and Ethiopia have sent troops to Somalia to back the transitional government in the capital Mogadishu against al Shabab, which is based in Somalia's south.

slk/ncy (AP, AFP)