Police detonate two bombs in Nyeri

Bomb experts from the Kenya Police on Monday successfully detonated two bombs found at Gikoye Village in Othaya Constituency, Nyeri County.

Othaya Police Station OCS, Adiel Nyange led a team of bomb experts from the Nyeri County headquarters who destroyed the explosives at Aberdare forest without causing any damage to property or injuries.

The 60 millimetres and 2 inches high explosive bombs were discovered by a farmer who was tending his farm and immediately notified the police.

The bombs are suspected to have been left there by the colonialists during the war for independence with Mau Mau freedom fighters.

Gikoye Village was a battle field during the Mau Mau war as the freedom fighters, who used to hide in caves in Mount Kenya forest, frequented the village for communication resulting to the its attack by the colonial army.

The two bombs bring to three the number of colonial bombs denoted in the region this year, and six in the larger Nyeri County.

Two other bombs were detonated on April this year.

But the latest bomb to be destroyed was bigger and more powerful than the previous ones, according to police.

The bomb, which was found by a herder in a stream deep in the expansive Mount Kenya forest was rusty with age.

Police are cautioning people in the area to report any strange metallic objects to the authorities in order to avoid tragic incidences.

“We suspect that there could be other explosives which were left during the Mau Mau war which have not exploded,” said Mr Nyange.

He said that the bombs were capable of causing mass destruction up to a radius of 300 square meters on explosion.

“People should resist the temptation of collecting metallic objects with the hopes of selling them as scrap metals,” noted Mr Nyange.

In an earlier incident, an unsuspecting villager took a rusty object from a river and carried it in his hands intending to sell it to scrap metal dealers.

He was lucky to escape with his life after being informed by a game ranger that the object was indeed a bomb.

The bomb was later detonated.