Revenge attack on Somalis after deadly grenade blast in Nairobi church
A policeman stands guard next to the scene where a blast ripped through a church in Nairobi on September 30, 2012. A suspected grenade attack killed one child and wounded nine others in a Nairobi church today, a day after Islamist fighters abandoned their last bastion in neighbouring Somalia in the face of an assault by Kenyan and other troops.
A revenge attack on Somalis following a deadly grenade blast at a Nairobi church has left 13 people injured.
An angry mob armed with sticks and stones rounded up Somalis living in the suburb of Eastleigh in Kenya's capital after the grenade attack, in which one child was killed and three others seriously injured, the BBC reported.
According to the BBC, the grenade attack had targeted a Sunday school class for children at St. Polycarp's church on Juja Road in Nairobi, near the largely Somali area of Eastleigh.
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Sympathizers of the Somali Al Shabaab militants, said to be angry over Kenya's involvement in a military intervention in Somalia, were blamed.
The Associated Press said Kenya has seen a series of church attacks since Kenyan forces moved into Somalia to fight Al Shabaab last year.
"We suspect this blast might have been carried out by sympathizers of Al Shabaab," police spokesman Charles Owino told Reuters. "These are the kicks of a dying horse since, of late, Kenyan police have arrested several suspects in connection with grenades."
On Friday, an African Union offensive saw the Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels pushed out of Kismayo, their last stronghold.
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Kenyan newspaper 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.
The Nation said angry youth began attacking a nearby mosque, seeking revenge.
Nairobi's police chief urged calm and warned residents that revenge attacks would not be tolerated.
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