Blast in Kenyan capital kills one

NAIROBI, June 11 (Reuters) A blast in central Nairobi killed at least one person today and police on the scene said they believed it could have been a suicide bombing.

Police Commissioner Hussein Ali said five or six other people were injured and in critical condition after the explosion outside the Ambassadeur hotel in the central business district. Other reports said 10 people were injured.

Passers-by said a bomb had gone off in a waste bin at about 8 am (1030 IST). A bloodied corpse lay on the pavement nearby, a Reuters witness said.

''We believe it is a suicide bomber,'' a senior policeman, told Reuters. ''We are always peaceful. This sort of attack is very unusual for Nairobi,'' said the officer, who did not want to be named.

Local KTN television said a man carrying a grenade was killed when it exploded as he tried to board a city bus.

''It was a very loud explosion. I thought it was a tyre burst but it was louder than that,'' Langat Justice, a 20-year-old student who witnessed the explosion, told Reuters near the scene.

''Maybe this was a terror attack, we don't know,'' he added, as hundreds of people milled around and policemen tried to push them back from the scene.

Ali said the exact cause of the explosion was not yet known.

''There was a blast here. Was it something that somebody was carrying? We will get to know once we have investigated properly.'' The blast came after weeks of violence by a criminal society called the Mungiki, which beheads its enemies. At least 30 people were killed by police last week in raids on a Nairobi slum which is a stronghold of the gang.

Reuters SKB VP1232