Yusuf Hassan, a member of Kenya’s parliament representing the Kamukunji constituency in Nairobi, was last night injured in a grenade attack that killed two people in the Eastleigh suburb of the city.
By Saturday morning, the death toll among the injured had risen to five.
The MP was said to have been holding a discussion with his constituents after evening prayers at Hidaya Mosque when a man hurled a grenade at them, injuring nine people.
Mr Hassan suffered a fractured leg and was taken to the Aga Khan Hospital and the others to the Kenyatta National Hospital, six of them with serious injuries.
The blast sparked violent protests, with rowdy youth barricading roads with burning tyres.
The situation was contained by police who cordoned off the mosque. The scene of the blast was littered with blood and belongings of the victims.
The attack comes just two days after another that killed one person and injured six others in the same Eastleigh district.
The Tuesday night explosion went off near a scrap metal store.
Eye witnesses told the Nation newspaper the explosion occurred shortly after 7pm, getting passers-by off guard.
Police cordoned off the area from the public as they tried to investigate the cause of the blast.
Nairobi area police commander Moses Ombati told journalists one of the injured was in a critical condition while seven others sustained minor injuries.
Eastleigh has been synonymous with explosions in the recent two months leading to injuries and deaths. Last month, a grenade attack on a passenger minibus claimed seven lives.
The attacks have blamed on Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants following Kenya’s invasion of Somalia last year.
Kenyan troops seized the Al-Shabaab bastion of Kismayu in September, prompting warnings of retaliation from both the insurgents and their Kenyan supporters
Leave a Reply