By Charles Wachira

Kenyan authorities detained 657 suspects after three explosions in the capital that left six people dead, as the government ordered the security clampdown to continue until all the perpetrators are brought to justice.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yesterday in Nairobi’s Somali enclave of Eastleigh, and investigators haven’t made a public statement on the possible cause. Six of the 31 people treated for injuries remain hospitalized.

The assault was “barbaric and immediate action has been taken by our security agencies and so far 657 suspects have been apprehended in Eastleigh,” Interior Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku said today in an e-mailed statement. “The operation will continue until all criminal suspects and perpetrators of this terror are brought to book.”

Kenya has blamed al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab for similar attacks in the past in Eastleigh, which is sometimes referred to as Little Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, because of its large population of ethnic Somalis. Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi in September, which left at least 67 civilians and security personnel dead.

After yesterday’s explosions, Human Rights Watch urged the government to avoid a repeat of “abuses” against Somali refugees in Kenya that followed a similar attack more than a year ago. At least five people were killed and several injured, including lawmaker Yusuf Hassan Abdi, in a grenade attack on a bus in Eastleigh in December 2012.

The government last week repeated a directive for Somali refugees and asylum seekers living in urban areas to report to the camps in the country’s north with immediate effect because of security concerns. Ole Lenku said last year that the camps are being used as bases to carry out attacks by extremists and the government is putting plans in place for the refugees to return home as security in neighboring Somalia improves.

Source: Bloomberg