Kenya: Grenade attack on church in Garissa kills two Published duration 6 November 2011

image copyright bbc

Two people have been killed in a grenade attack on a church in an eastern Kenyan town.

At least three others were injured after the grenade was thrown into the compound of the East African Pentecostal Church in Garissa.

Another bomb was placed near a military base in the town earlier on Saturday, but failed to detonate.

Police suggested the attack could have been carried out by Islamist extremists sympathetic to Somalia-based al-Shabab.

Accusations

Ibrahim Makunyi, head pastor of the church in Garissa, said a house near the entrance of the church that belonged to a church elder had been bombed.

"One of the dead is a member of the choir, and the other is the son of the church elder," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

Kenyan police chief Leo Nyongesa said that a woman and her two grandchildren were also injured, AP reports.

Mr Nyongesa said another bomb was thrown at a busy taxi circle frequented by military officers also on Saturday, but failed to explode.

Kenya sent its troops into Somalia last month to establish a buffer zone following a spate of kidnappings blamed on al-Shabab.