Kenyan admits grenade attack in Nairobi and having weapons cache

A KENYAN pleaded guilty yesterday to a grenade attack on a Nairobi bus station and being a member of the Somali rebel group al-Shabaab, which Kenyan forces are pursuing in a cross-border operation.

Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, who is also known as Mohamed Seif, admitted in a Nairobi court charges of injuring people in the attack, one of two in the Kenyan capital two days earlier. He also pleaded guilty to other charges of illegally possessing a cache of arms, including 13 grenades, an AK-47 rifle, a machinegun, four pistols and 717 rounds of ammunition. The two grenade attacks at a bar and the bus terminus killed one person and wounded more than 20 on Monday.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia 11 days ago to fight the Islamist rebels, blamed by Nairobi for a series of kidnappings on Kenyan soil and frequent border incursions that threaten the east African country’s security.

Police arrested Oliacha in a low-income area of Nairobi about ten miles from the city centre.