A thunderous blast shattered the lunchtime calm in Nairobi’s Industrial Area on August 26, 1965, when a 250-lb bomb was detonated in long grass at the scrap metal yard of George Cohen (E.A.) Ltd on Kilmarnock Road. The bomb was destroyed by a Kenya Army ammunition team during their first-ever demolition, assisted by British Army and Royal Air Force experts. Police sealed off the area as a goods train carrying motor vehicles was shunted further up a nearby railway line to prevent damage. A deep pit was dug and surrounded by a four-foot wall of sandbags to contain the explosion. After the blast, ammunition technical officer John Luttson, wearing a bush hat, stands among the rubble as John Kimaru and Kefa Ombura dig to confirm the bomb had fully detonated.
