2 killed, dozens wounded in twin Nairobi bus bombings

 At least two people were killed and dozens more wounded whenbombs exploded in two buses on a busy highway in the Kenyan capital Nairobi,officials said.The bombings came just a day after twin attacks in the restive port city of Mombasa,including a grenade attack on a bus, which killed four, and a bombing outside a luxury beach hotel.Kenya's Disaster Operation Centre said the bus bombings had killed two andwounded 62, with 20 of them in a critical condition -- mostly women and children."Two people have died while being taken to hospital," a police official also told anAFP reporter at the scene.Kenya's Vice President William Ruto said in a statement that "security agencies are inpursuit of the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act."There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, although Kenyanauthorities are currently engaged in a major security crackdown on suspectedsupporters of neighbouring Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels.Kenyan media reports said bombs appeared to have been planted on the buses,while unconfirmed reports said powerful grenades may have been thrown at themfrom the side of the road.The buses blew up along the Thika Road highway, an area around eight kilometres(five miles) northeast of Nairobi's city centre.An AFP reporter at the scene saw a red passenger bus with a large hole in its side,and with the ripped panels spattered in blood. Kenyan media also showed images ofa green bus with its roof and sides buckled by an explosion.The Nation newspaper said the 45-seater buses were almost full when the blastsoccurred.Both Nairobi and Muslim-majority Mombasa, a port city that is one of the maingateways to east Africa as well as a popular tourist destination, have been hit bysporadic unrest in recent months.Kenya has been targeted by Shebab since sending troops to war-torn Somalia in2011. Kenyan soldiers are still posted in southern Somalia as part of an AfricanUnion force supporting the country's fragile internationally backed government.The Islamist group claimed responsibility for the high-profile attack on Nairobi'sWestgate shopping mall last year in which at least 67 people were killed.In March two people were arrested in Mombasa along with a car expertly packedwith explosives. Intelligence sources say they believe the car was rigged in Somaliaand driven into Kenya for a high-profile bombing.Nairobi and Mombasa have also seen a string of smaller bombings and shootingsblamed on Islamists, pushing national security to the top of the agenda in the eastAfrican nation -- which once proudly identified itself as a bastion of stability in theregion.Kenyan police have also been under fire for an ongoing crackdown in Nairobi whichhas seen thousands of people detained -- most of them Somalis or ethnic Somalis.The operation has focussed on Nairobi's main Somali district Eastleigh, andresidents have accused police of indiscriminately arresting people of Somali origin.