FOURTEEN PEOPLE were injured in a grenade attack at a nightclub in the Kenyan capital Nairobi early this morning.
Police believe the attack is linked to the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which warned recently that it would launch a campaign of violence which would endanger “hundreds of thousands of civilians” in response to Kenyan troops crossing over the Somali border in search of the group.
Kenyan authorities have said the group is behind a spate of recent kidnappings in Kenya, including the kidnapping of four women in three separate kidnappings. Last week, a French government official confirmed that one of those four, a Frenchwoman abducted last month, had died while being held hostage.
All 14 injured in today’s grenade attack are understood to be Kenyan and six sustained serious head and facial injuries, according to a nurse at Kenyatta National Hospital. Kenya’s The Nation reports that police are urging Nairobi residents to be particularly vigilant
According to the AFP, the US embassy in Nairobi had warned of a high threat of terrorist attack “directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners are known to congregate”.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs advises against all travel in north-east Kenya and the coastal area of the Lamu district, where some of the recent kidnappings took place. The department also warns that people planning on travelling to Kenya “should be aware of the global risk of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, which could be against civilian targets, including places frequented by foreigners”.
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