One injured in an explosion outside a supermarket in Eastleigh, Nairobi

Police arrest Nairobi blast suspect

By Cyrus Ombati

Police are holding a suspected terrorist after an explosion he had planned to detonate inside a supermarket exploded and injured him in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area.

Witnesses told police the suspect was in the company of two others and had arrived outside the Joster supermarket aboard a motorbike when the incident happened.

Nairobi Area police boss Moses Ombati says the explosion went off before the suspects walked into the supermarket.

“It was then that a crowd charged at the suspects and arrested one whom they beat with his injuries before police arrived and saved him. He is in custody and under interrogation,” said Ombati of the 7pm incident.

It is believed many people were injured following the incident and they escaped. Some have been rushed to hospital.

Ombati says bomb experts have rushed there to establish the cause of the explosion.

“We believe they were targeting the supermarket but the suspect will tell us more,” said Ombati on the phone.

Police say preliminary findings show it was a grenade and that the suspect is in a stable condition in hospital.

The incident happened in Biafra area, few kilometers away from where another one occurred on a bridge injuring two, a week ago.

No arrest has been made so far following the bridge blast.

Kenya has experienced a series of explosions after troops rolled into Somalia last year to hunt down Al-Shabaab militants who had been blamed for several insecurity incidents.

It is believed the attacks are being committed by remnants of the terror group.