NAIROBI: Gunmen hurled a grenade at a Kenyan church in a town near the Somali border yesterday, killing one policeman and wounding another 14 people, the latest such strike in the volatile area since Nairobi sent troops into Somalia to fight Al Qaeda-linked insurgents.
The attack occurred during morning prayers at the church in the northeastern town of Garissa, which is home to a large number of Somalis and where 18 people were killed in similar grenade blasts in July.
“We have one fatality,” said regional police chief Philip Tuimur after a policeman died of his wounds in the attack on the interconfessional Utawala church at a police camp in Garissa, which lies about 140km from the Somali border.
“We have mobilised our officers to track down the attackers,” Tuimur added, without giving further details.
Nigeria gunmen burn police station, school
KANO: Gunmen armed with explosives attacked a police station, a primary school and two cellphone towers in a town in Nigeria’s restive northeast yesterday, setting them ablaze, the military and residents said.
“We heard that there were some attacks in Fika by suspected Boko Haram terrorists. They attacked two telecommunication masts, a police station and a primary school,” Lazarus Eli, military spokesman in Yobe State, said.
A resident said he had seen the bodies of two policemen being brought out of the razed police station, but Eli said he could not immediately confirm any casualties.
Eli said troops had deployed to the town to contain the violence. Fika lies some 170km from Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State and a hotbed of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. Residents said the gunmen attacked their targets with explosives before dawn at around 4.30am.
Czech PM fends off party challenge
BRNO, Czech Republic: Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas won re-election as head of the centre-right Civic Democrats yesterday and must quickly tackle a rebellion among the party’s backbenchers that could bring down his cabinet next week.
The leadership challenge came from one of a group of dissenters who oppose Necas’s plans to hike taxes next year. The rebels could still bring down the prime minister in a confidence motion tied to the tax bill and due for a vote on Wednesday.
The centre-right cabinet has won praise from investors over its two years in office for a determined push to narrow the budget deficit.
Agencies
