NAIROBI, Kenya – Police in Kenya’s capital intercepted a suspicious car at a traffic light Wednesday and were taking the occupants in for questioning when the car exploded, killing four people, including two police officers, officials said.
The car exploded just outside a police station’s main gate in central Nairobi, turning the car into an unrecognizable heap of twisted metal.
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David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of police, said two officers were killed, along with two other people.
Terror warnings have been a constant in Kenya in recent months, particularly after September’s attack on Westgate Mall killed at least 67 people. Most of the small-scale attacks and explosions are blamed on al-Shabab, the militant group in Somalia that has vowed revenge attacks in Kenya because Kenyan troops moved into southern Somalia in 2011.
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Patrick Kimiti was close to the car when it exploded. “I was just tossed up immediately and when I landed, I lay on the ground. There was so much dust. People were screaming. Cars were skidding and making U-turns,” he said.
Kenyan authorities this month have been carrying out an extensive sweep of Nairobi’s ethnic Somali neighbourhoods, making thousands of arrests and deporting more than 100 people to Somalia.
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