Though Kenya has seen grenade attacks before, the latest round, which began in October 2011 in response to Kenyan military operations against al Shabaab in Somalia, has been characterized by an uptick in violence in Nairobi. In the first attacks, grenades were thrown at bus stations and churches in the city. In May 2012, an improvised explosive device was detonated at a boutique in central Nairobi. A few months later, bombings in Eastleigh targeted ethnic Kenyan Christians. What is evident from the timeline of the attacks is that an organization is developing its militant capabilities through trial and error. It is difficult to say whether all of the attacks have been the work of the same group, but the three Eastleigh bombings were almost certainly linked since they had similar methods and targets, and the group behind those bombings has shown clear improvement.
