Explosion in Nairobi

As you may be, we are waking up to news of a bomb explosion in a bus station in downtown Nairobi. The bus station where the incident took place is not one we use; its for long distance overnight buses - services we've been advised not to take for personal safety reasons.

In terms of the terror threat to Nairobi, it would appear that the city and not even Kenya was the target. The bus was bound for Uganda, a country whose police chief has warned is under serious threat of attack over the Christmas period from Somali militants angry at Uganda's role in the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. The militants killed 74 in a bomb attack in Uganda's capital during the world cup.

Using all the detective knowledge I have acquired through watching Morse and the Wire, I deduce from the fact that a group of people tried to get on the bus with the bomb that this was an attempt to move the bomb into Uganda rather than attack the Nairobi bus station; why waste three people in a suicide attack? Answers in the comments box from anyone with more than a passing knowledge of terrorism or police work, please.

Accident or not, there has been a bomb explosion in the city we live in. This is unnerving, but in these instances I am reminded that for five months before the July 7 attacks on London I was walking home at the bottom of the road where four men from Leeds were making massive bombs in a bath, and on the day in question Jo was travelling to work on London's buses. I am very likely to have shared buses and public places with the bombers, possibly as they moved their toxic ingredients around inner north west Leeds. At least this time the investigation is highly unlikely to derail my working life for a couple of months as it did in Leeds City Council's press office.

Logic suggests that there is never a safer time to travel than after such an incident, but rest assured I will remain vigilant bordering on paranoid throughout.