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One dead in Kenya blasts

April 1, 2012

At least one person has been killed and some 18 injured in bomb attacks in and near to the Kenyan city of Mombasa. The blasts are the latest in a string of attacks since the country sent troops into neighboring Somalia.

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Hospital staff attend to a victim from a blast at the Coast General Hospital in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa March 31, 2012. Five people were injured in a grenade attack at a packed restaurant in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa on Saturday, media and a police source said, after an earlier explosion near the city injured 10 others. REUTERS/Stringer (KENYA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST HEALTH)
Anschläge in KeniaImage: Reuters

The attacks left one person dead in the town of Mtwapa, where a grenade was believed to have been thrown at a Christian church gathering.

That blast, which occurred between 7.30 p.m and 8.30 p.m local time on Saturday, also left some 15 people injured.

"A van came and stopped ... then we heard the explosion. Some lay on the ground, while others started to run," eyewitness Davidson Kahindi told the news agency Reuters.

A second attack, believed to have been just minutes later, took place in the nearby port city of Mombasa. A grenade was thrown at a restaurant, injuring three people.

Wave of explosions

There has been a spate of grenade attacks and explosions, in the capital, Nairobi, and in eastern towns and camps housing Somali refugees, since Kenya sent tanks and troops into Somalia late last year.

Kenyan authorities have in the past blamed such incidents on al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab rebels, with whom they are engaged in fighting in Somalia.

Earlier this month, Kenyan police blamed al Shabaab for a grenade attack on a crowded Nairobi bus station that killed nine and wounded 40.

Al Shabaab, which has declared war on Kenya, denied it was responsible for that attack.

rc/dfm (AFP, Reuters)