NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Two bombs have exploded in Kenya’s capital, killing 10 people and injuring 70.
Police say two improvised explosive devices blew up in a market area near downtown Nairobi. One of the bombs damaged a mini-van used for public transportation.
The blasts come as several countries, including the U.S. and Britain, warn of an increased risk of terror attacks.
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi has tightened security in recent days, citing “recent threat information.” An al-Qaida bombing at the embassy in 1988 killed more than 200 people.
The embassy says more than 100 people have been killed in shootings, grenade attacks and small bomb attacks in Kenya over the past 18 months. And Kenyan authorities, with the help of the FBI, recently discovered a huge car bomb that could have caused massive damage.
Meanwhile, hundreds of British tourists have been evacuated from a coastal area where Islamic extremists have operated. The British government has urged British citizens to leave Mombasa and nearby beach towns.
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143-r-17-(Sound of people shouting, and emergency vehicle siren in the background, at scene of mini-van blast)–Sound people shouting, and a distant ambulance siren, as people tried to help victims of the explosion. COURTESY: KTN-Kenyan Television ((mandatory on-air credit)) (16 May 2014)
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144-r-27-(Sound of emergency vehicle siren, at scene of mini-van blast)–Sound of a siren as an ambulance tried to leave the scene of the explosion. COURTESY: KTN-Kenyan Television ((mandatory on-air credit)) (16 May 2014)
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139-c-18-(Jason Straziuso (straz-YOO’-soh), AP correspondent)-“common terror attacks”-AP correspondent Jason Straziuso reports there’ve been deadly explosions in Nairobi, and they come in the same week the United States and the Britain issued new warnings about possible terror attacks in Kenya. (16 May 2014)
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APPHOTO NAI115: Security forces inspect the scene at the site where two blasts detonated, one in a mini-van used for public transportation, in a market area of Nairobi, Kenya Friday, May 16, 2014. Two blasts hit Kenya’s capital on Friday, killing a number of people and injuring many more, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of increasingly frequent terror attacks. (AP Photo) (16 May 2014)
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