MOMBASA, Kenya — A 9-year-old boy was killed and several children were wounded Sunday when a grenade was hurled into a church in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, two days after Kenyan forces invaded the last major stronghold of the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia.
Suspicion immediately focused on sympathizers of al-Shabab who have attacked several churches and public gathering spots in Kenya in the past year. Kenyan officials have said that they do not think that the relatively small attacks are the work of al-Shabab, whose fighters have killed hundreds of people in Somalia with huge suicide bombs.
The grenade attack on the church happened at 10:30 a.m. near Eastleigh, the neighborhood in Nairobi with the most Somalis. Shrapnel drilled into several children, including the 9-year-old boy, who died from his wounds.
“It’s unfortunate that these people are even attacking innocent children,” said Kenya’s police spokesman, Eric Kiraithe. “Such an attack should not have occurred. We have heightened our security surveillance to ensure no further such attacks recur.”
