AFRICA/KENYA - Attack during a church service within the police station: for the Coadjutor Bishop of Garissa: "It is a political act, not a religious one"

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - The attack which took place yesterday, November 4, was aimed at the Sunday celebration of the Christian interfaith community Utawala in Garissa in eastern Kenya, 140 km from the border with Somalia causing a victim and about ten people were injured. The victim is the chaplain of the police who presided over the celebration.
"A room of the local police station was attacked where a religious service of the community Utawala was being celebrated where some of the detainees of the complex were participating" says to Fides Agency His Exc. Mgr. Joseph Alessandro, Coadjutor Bishop of Garissa.
"The objective seems to be the police. I think I can say that this is more of a political action than an assault motivated by religious issues " says Mgr. Alessandro.
The Somalia extremist Shabaab are suspected in committing the crime and have already carried out similar attacks in retaliation for the intervention of the Kenyan troops in Somalia. The Kenyan army played a decisive role in throwing out the Shabaab from Kismayu, a stronghold in southern Somalia (see Fides 28/09/2012). Despite the threat of terrorist attacks, according to Mgr. Alessandro "in general there is security in Garissa, although there are occasional terrorist attacks." "In these cases, however, one does not know exactly where or when terrorists will attack," concludes the Coadjutor Bishop of Garissa. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 05/11/2012)