KENYA: A grenade attack at a church in Nairobi kills a nine year-old boy, three other children were wounded /Local member of parliament urges government to apprehend perpetrators

Record ID: 362373

  • Title: KENYA: A grenade attack at a church in Nairobi kills a nine year-old boy, three other children were wounded /Local member of parliament urges government to apprehend perpetrators
  • Date: 1st October 2012
  • Summary: POLICE ARRIVING
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,Domestic Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVABIEA2E904SCZ5MLVE1LGMY86A
  • Story Text: : A nine-year-old boy was killed and three other children wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into a Sunday school session in a church in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Sunday (September 30) Local member of Margaret Wanjiru who visited the scene condemned the attack.
    "It is very sad, it is really very sad that this is happening and it is happening to the churches. This is wrong and I do not think as a country we are going to accept this kind of thing," said Wanjiru.
    Teachers at the attacked Sunday school said unknown attackers lobbed an object into the building spraying the children with shrapnel and fatally injuring the boy during the morning service.
    Wanjiru asked the government to do speedy investigations and apprehend those behind the attack to quell any simmering tensions.
    "I also do believe that this is not religious war because there is not other religion here that was fighting with another. But definitely this is an indicator that we do have enemies of the body of christ and mine will be to urge the government to make sure that they run after and be able to catch those who are doing this kind of thing," said Wanjiru The attack on the church came days after Kenyan troops launched a surprise offensive on the southern Somali port of Kismayu, the last stronghold of the al Shabaab, forcing the rebels to flee.
    Kenya has suffered a series of grenade attacks since it sent troops across the border into Somalia last October in pursuit of Islamist al Shabaab militants who it blamed for kidnapping its security personnel and Western tourists.
    Masked assailants launched simultaneous gun and grenade raids on two churches in the northern town of Garissa in July, killing at least 17 people.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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