MOMBASA: A hand grenade thrown into a bar in the Kenyan tourist hub of Mombasa as clients watched a Euro 2012 football match Sunday killed one person and wounded several others, police said.
Three of those wounded were in a critical condition, the head of the coastal province's police, Aggrey Adoli, said.
The attack came just two days after the United States had warned its citizens of an imminent threat of such an attack in the city and Kenyan police had arrested two Iranians on suspicion of planning bomb attacks.
The blast tore through the Jericho bar, in the densely populated Mishomoroni district of the city, at about 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) Sunday, a police officer said.
"One person has died and we have several others injured," the officer added. Football fans were following the Euro 2012 quarter-final match in Kiev between England and Italy at the time.
"Many people have been injured," witness George Lado told AFP. "I saw one area of the bar blown off before I started running away".
On Friday, the US embassy alert to its citizens said they had received information on "an imminent threat of a terrorist attack in Mombasa.
"All US government travel to Mombasa is suspended until July 1," it added.
Just hours before Sunday's attack, a senior Kenyan official had denounced the US warning.
"It is a reckless advisory and it was totally uncalled for," the head of the Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Francis Kimemia, told journalists in Mombasa.
"It is aimed at sabotaging the country's economy." Kenya officials had written to the US embassy to get them to "reverse their decision", he added.
France's embassy in Nairobi also warned its citizens to be "extremely vigilant" in Mombasa and the surrounding area. (AFP)
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