Four killed in explosion in Nairobi, Kenya

At least four people were killed on Friday in two explosions in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the National Disaster Operations Centre (NDOC) said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. In the past such attacks have been widely blamed on the Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which wants Kenyan troops out of Somalia and in September killed 67 people in an attack on a Nairobi shopping mall.

“Two explosions reported. First blast was from a 14-seater matatu (minibus), second blast within Gikomba Market. Four fatalities,” NDOC said on Twitter. The blasts came shortly after Kenya rebuked Britain, the United States, France and Australia for issuing travel warnings about the country and hundreds of tourists began leaving resorts along the Indian Ocean coast.

Jared Ojuk, Kenya’s deputy police spokesman, told Reuters police suspected the blasts were caused by an improvised explosive device (IED). “Very many people are injured. I don’t know how many are dead but for sure there are fatalities,” Mwangi Maina, a trader selling second-hand shoes at Gikomba Market, said.

Kenya Red Cross said more than 10 people were hospitalized. “Terrorism is not an evil that was born in Kenya. Terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon,” President Uhuru Kenyatta told a previously planned news conference that took place shortly after the blasts.