Monday, December 10, 2012
By: Zahra Rashid
More than 300 suspects, most of whom are Somalis, are expected to be taken to court later today after they were arrested in a massive operation launched after the attack that left 5 killed and the area MP Yusuf Hassan hospitalized with fractured legs among 38 others nursing serious injuries.
Most of the suspects arrested by police, according to Nairobi police chief Moses Ombati did not have identification documents
He said that they will be interrogated and all of them will be taken to court on various charges.
“Most of those arrested were foreigners who did not have certified documents to show they are in Kenya legally. All of them will be interrogated, and various charges preferred as we look for the prime suspects,” he said.
He added that some of the suspects in the earlier swoop were jailed after being charged. The court ordered they be repatriated after serving prison terms.
Mr. Ombati said that detectives are looking for the owner and occupants of a car they believed was used in Friday’s grenade attack outside a mosque in Nairobi’s Eastliegh neighborhood.
“At the moment, we cannot say we have the key suspects, but we are following some clues. We have the registration number of the car used, and we are starting the search at KRA so that we can know its owner,” Mr Ombati said.
Mr Ombati said it was still too early to establish the motive for the attack and whether the MP was the main target.
Some survivors of the Friday night mosque blast suggested it had been politically motivated and could have targeted the MP.
An eye witnesses have told the police that a man who was seen throwing the grenade, from a white car that spirited away.
“It happened so fast that I could not tell the number plate of the car apart from the colour. All I remember is a man throwing something towards the entry of the mosque, immediately worshipers started living the mosque,” Established the witness.
Ten people were arrested near the scene of the blast minutes after the explosion, and more were arrested on Saturday as the operation was extended to the nearby Majengo estate.More people have also been arrested in similar operations since Wednesday after another attack in which one person died and eight others were injured.
MPs called for speedy investigations, saying the frequency of terrorist attacks in Eastleigh was alarming.
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Nairobi Kenya