- Washington “follows with interest” Morocco’s openness onto Africa (John Kerry)Posted 11 years ago
- The trial of South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius opened in Pretoria on Monday.Posted 11 years ago
- USA welcomes efforts of King Mohammed VI in MaliPosted 11 years ago
- Egypt’s population reaches 94 millionPosted 11 years ago
- Mugabe celebrates his 90thPosted 11 years ago
- Moroccan Monarch to Build a Perinatal Clinic in BamakoPosted 11 years ago
- King Mohammed VI handed a donation of bovine semen for the benefit of Malian breeders.Posted 11 years ago
- Moroccan King’s strategic tour to Africa: Strengthening the will of pan African Solidarity and stimulating the south-south cooperation mechanisms over the continentPosted 12 years ago
- Senior al-Qaida leader killed in AlgeriaPosted 12 years ago
- Libya: The trial of former Prime Minister al-Baghdadi AliPosted 12 years ago
Relief agencies halts operations after attack in N. Kenya
Aid agencies have temporarily suspended their operations in northern Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex following three explosions at the airstrip on Thursday night.
“We have briefly suspended all humanitarian operations, which are not emergency at moment through a resolution reached during inter-agencies security deliberations this morning, following the unfortunate incident last night,” UN aid workers who declined to be named told Xinhua on Friday.
The airstrip is usually very busy with both humanitarian and private flights and it could have been extremely disastrous were the explosions to happen at day time.
The UN official said non essential humanitarian aid operations were suspended in the sprawling refugee camps in the area as the matter is being probed by the security and ballistic experts.
Dadaab, which has been an epicenter of numerous similar deadly past explosive attacks, has enjoyed some sense of normalcy for the last couples of months.
Two powerful explosives rocked the airstrip located in Garissa County in northern region bordering the war ravaged Somalia on Thursday night, sending panic among the residents the area scarred by fatalities of a past similar explosive attacks.
Dadaab District Commander in charge of Police Operation Galicha Roba said the explosions, which happened on a span of 30 minutes, caused extensive damage to the main gate of the airstrip.
Roba said nobody was hurt in the explosions suspected to be hand grenades hurled from a close range by suspected sympathizers of Al-Qaida inspired Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabaab.
“We are lucky that the attacks occurred at night, when the airstrip is rarely used or bustling with human activities. We have cordoned off the area as we investigate what actually happened and whether there are more unexploded explosive devices around the airstrip,” he said.
The local police boss said that they have invited explosive experts from Garissa and Nairobi to investigate and establish the type of explosion hurled at the airstrip and whether there are more such explosive devices planted within or near the airstrip.
Explosive attacks have become almost a new form of criminal activities in Kenya since the country sent its military force to liberate southern Somalia from the grips of the dreaded Al-Shabaab militia, who are blamed to be the proxy of Al-Qaida.
