MSF says grenade attacker not an employee

The international humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said a suspect in last week's grenade attack on a staff member in Mandera, northeastern Kenya, was not an employee of the organisation, as earlier reported by the local media.

One person was killed and four others, including a Dutch doctor, were seriously injured in the attack. A local newspaper had said the suspected attacker, a Somali national, had tried to kill the doctor in revenge for being sacked from a clinic run by the agency.

But Denis Guzzi, MSF's head of mission in Kenya, said the attacker was unknown to the agency and that the MSF medical doctor had never seen him nor talked to him prior to the attack.

"The attacker has never worked for MSF and is unknown to the organisation," Guzzi said in a clarification letter on Thursday.

MSF said on Wednesday it had decided to withdraw from Mandera, and would not return unless security in the area was guaranteed.

Kenyan police said the suspect had been arrested while trying to flee across the border. He was brought to the capital Nairobi, to await murder charges.

[Click here for earlier story: MSF pulls out of Mandera after grenade attack on its staff]