Coast blast suspect held as two more die

A woman dressed in a buibui reportedly lobbed the three explosives that killed three people at a Mishomoroni bar in Mombasa on Sunday night. Eyewitness Alexander Momanyi, popularly known as Major in the area, was standing outside the Jericho Bar with his friends when they saw two cars — a Rav 4 and a Toyota Caldina — both with foreign registration number plates, drive up and stop outside the pub.

The woman stepped out of one of the cars armed with a gun which had a "pointed extension". "We dropped to the ground and lay flat. We heard three bangs and when we stood up, the vehicles and their occupants had already driven off and people inside were fighting for their lives," Momanyi said.

The witness is now assisting police with crucial evidence in pursuit of the attackers. He said he could not see the occupants of the vehicle as it was dark and the area was in a blackout. The Jericho Bar which was targeted was using a generator. “We saw the woman alight and take aim at the Jericho Bar. She was a few metres from us. We sensed it signified danger and went down,” said Momanyi who spoke exclusively to The Star.

Anti-terror police are trying to piece together the information they have so far received about the Mishomoroni incident to see whether it has any connection with the Bella Vista grenade attack in Mombasa a month ago. And just like Thabit Yahya who is suspected to have been involved in the Bella Visa attack, the Mishomoroni suspect Athman Salim yesterday gave contradictory information about himself and what he knew of the incident.

Athman was interviewed at the Coast General Hospital before he was wheeled into the emergency room for treatment. He was injured in the right thigh in the explosion. Athman denied being involved in the incident. "I was just standing outside the bar. I did not do anything," he said before he was taken in for treatment. According to the information so far collected by the anti-terror police boss Elijah Rop, Athman is a mason who has lived in Mishomoroni for the last two years. He said he shares a house with his cousins and friends, some of whom had come to visit him on Sunday evening.