Three children killed by an abandoned grenade in Mbalambala

Monday, June 10, 2013

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Three children were on Sunday evening killed in a blast in Mbalambala area, North Eastern.

The children aged 12, eight and five were playing with a grenade they had stumbled upon when it went off killing them.

North Eastern police boss Charlton Murithi said they were informed long after the children had died and arrived there later.

“This seemed to be a grenade that had been abandoned in a bush and the children found it and thought it was a ball. When they started to play with it, the grenade went off and killed them,” he said.

The incident is an indicator that there could be many abandoned explosives in the area, police added.

In Nairobi, the number of those injured in the blast in Mpambe area near Eastleigh on Sunday night has risen to four. Police say no arrest has been made so far.

Another explosion occurred at a crusade in Likoni area, Mombasa injuring at least 12 people. The attackers used homemade bombs to attack the congregants present at the Sunday event.

Still in North Eastern, police say they are yet to know the gunmen who attacked two communication masts in Dadaab refugee camp. No people were however injured during the dramatic attack.

The attackers lobbed grenades at the Orange’s communication mast in Dagahaley and Safaricom’s in IFO over the weekend. However, the attackers only managed to destroy the walls and some minor equipment.

Police and locals said the attacks were simultaneous and seemed to target the communication centres.

Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said the perpetrators escaped soon after the attack and no arrest has been made so far.

“It seems they wanted to affect communication in the area at large, but they did not managed to do so. They threw two grenades to each of the masts respectively and later escaped,” Kimaiyo said.

The police boss added that police operations have been intensified in the area to address the issues of insecurity that has affected the region.

Apparently, the masts were not under any armed guard at the time of the attack.

Kimaiyo said they have deployed a senior officer, Hassan Harriet, to be the police commander of the larger refugee camp as part of efforts to address insecurity.

The assault is the latest in a series that have been reported in the area since Kenyan troops crossed to Somalia to hunt Al-Shabaab militants who have been blamed on several insecurity incidents.

Several areas in North Eastern that border Somalia have been the target of terrorists who have killed innocent citizens, as well as security officers and other government officials.

Police officers, military personnel and Kenya Revenue Authority officials have in the past been killed in targeted attacks in Garissa.

But the persistence of the incidents has left many concerned about the safety of the region despite the efforts by the government to contain the situation.Local leaders have urged the government to beef up security so that they can realize the fruits of devolution.

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