Potential terrorist attack in Kenya foiled

THREE men were arrested at a shopping centre in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on September 8 carrying an explosive device, which has since been detonated in a controlled explosion.

The Garden City Mall, one of the biggest shopping centres in the city, was also evacuated raising memories of the 67 shoppers at Westgate mall in the city who were killed by al-Shabab gunmen In 2013,

When one of the men refused to be searched by security guards he was overpowered in a scuffle, according to a witness. A police spokesman said that the three men in custody were all Kenyans and the explosives were discovered in one of their bags.

Following the Westgate siege, al-Shabab which is an Islamic group based in Somalia, has launched a number of high-profile attacks, including one on a university in Garissa, in north-eastern Kenya last April where nearly 150 people died.

Security at Nairobi’s shopping complexes has been stepped up since the 2013 attack and this success has proven that the precautions were implemented correctly.