One child killed in Kenya church grenade attack.

A nine-year-old boy was killed and three other children wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into a Sunday school session in a church in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police and medical staff said.

Kenya has suffered a series of grenade attacks since it sent troops across the border into Somalia last October in pursuit of Islamist al Shabaab militants who it blamed for kidnapping its security personnel and Western tourists.

“There was an attack at St. Polycarp’s church on Juja Road. Some people threw a hand grenade at a Sunday school service. Three children were injured,” Charles Owino, deputy police spokesman, told Reuters.

Local television station, Citizen, reported that one child later died from his wounds.

“We suspect this blast might have been carried out by sympathisers of al Shabaab. These are the kicks of a dying horse since, of late, Kenyan police have arrested several suspects in connection with grenades,” Owino said.

Masked assailants launched simultaneous gun and grenade raids on two churches in the northern town of Garissa in July, killing at least 17 people.

On Thursday, Kenyan troops under the African Union forces’ banner launched a surprise offensive on the southern Somali port of Kismayu, the last stronghold of the al Shabaab, prompting the rebels to flee from the city.

Reuters