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| Africa Horn |
| Officers killed in deadly Nairobi attacks |
| 2010-12-04 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] Three coppers were on Friday killed and another injured in two separate attacks. In the first attack at 7:45am in Eastleigh, gunnies targetted a government vehicle held in a traffic jam. In the second attack at about 4pm, two assailants on a cycle of violence shot two traffic officers at the Roysambu roundabout -- about 100m from Kasarani cop shoppe. One keeled over dead while the other died on the way to hospital. Nairobi provincial police boss Anthony Kibuchi said police pursued the two assailants and shot them. A grenade that one of the slain attackers was carrying went kaboom!killing him. In Eastleigh, one of the officers was blown and his colleague seriously injured. The explosive was described "as being within the hand grenade range". AP Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua described the attacks as indication of terrorist presence in the country. Mr Mbugua said that there was an kaboom near the vehicle at about 7:45am, injuring the two APs. One was pronounced dead in hospital while the other is recovering. The vehicle had just dropped off two other APs in Buru Buru estate and was passing through Kimathi estate into Eastleigh Section III, inhabited by several CID officers. The officer, an escort to Embakasi DC, and the driver were held in a traffic jam at the Eastleigh First Avenue and Eighteenth Avenue junction, when an explosive believed to be a hand grenade, was allegedly thrown into the vehicle by a smartly dressed man. A team of detectives led by the officer in charge of operations at the Criminal Investigations Unit, Mr Francis Njiru and deputy officer in charge of the Bomb Disposal Unit, Mr Eliud Langat, visited the scene and began investigations. According to an eyewitness, Mr Salim Muyuka Sangoro, two smartly dressed men and a woman dressed in a burqa approached the vehicle then one of them threw the explosive inside and decamped. "I had just alighted from a matatu when I saw two men and a woman throw something into the vehicle and then it went kaboom!after which decamped," the eyewitness said. Another eyewitness, Mr Francis Mugo, said that one of the officers had tried to jump out of the vehicle but did not make it in time. The injured driver then sped off to the nearby Eastleigh South Chief's Office where he sought help before the two were taken to Nairobi Hospital. Mr Mbugua, who visited the scene along with his deputy Omar Shurie and officer in charge of logistics Fredrick Mulandi, asked residents to be wary of strangers. "People should be wary of strangers because there are people who are bent on causing terror. Nobody is safe from terror activities. Bad elements appear to have infiltrated parts of the country," he said. The Nairobi provincial CID boss Peter Muinde said that police were investigating the incidents. |
| Posted by:Fred |