Child killed in Sunday school bombing in Nairobi, Kenya

A grenade attack on a church's Sunday school in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, has killed a child and seriously hurt up to six others, according to reports.

According to the BBC, the attack targeted St Polycarp's church on Juja Road.

Sympathizers of the Somali al-Shabaab Islamist militants were blamed, the BBC wrote, citing a police spokesman.

The attack is one in a series since Kenyan forces moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabaab last year, Voice of America reported.

An offensive saw the Al Qaeda-linked rebels pushed out of their last stronghold, Kismayo, on Friday.

The Kenyan troops are part of a wider African Union force that mounted an offensive last October.

Reuters cited police spokesman Charles Owino as saying: 

"We suspect this blast might have been carried out by sympathizers of al Shabaab. These are the kicks of a dying horse since, of late, Kenyan police have arrested several suspects in connection with grenades."

The children were sprayed with shrapnel when the grenade exploded.

The Daily Nation quoted local police as saying that a number of those hurt at the church were injured in a stampede after the attack.

More from GlobalPost: In Africa, Al Qaeda finds new life