Ten people have been killed and over 70 wounded in two bomb attacks at a busy market in Nairobi, the latest in a wave of unrest blamed on Kenya's Islamist militants.
The twin bombings came as hundreds of British tourists were being evacuated from beach resorts near the port city of Mombasa after Britain's Foreign Office and other nations, including Australia, issued new travel warnings.
The National Disaster Operation Centre (NDOC) said the first blast in the capital occurred next to a 14-seater matatu, or public minibus, and the second was inside a shop in Gikomba Market close to Nairobi's central business district.
A spokesman at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi's main hospital, said eight bodies had been brought in and "more than 70" people admitted for treatment, many of them in a serious condition.
The NDOC then revised the death toll up to 10, while another hospital said it had received around 14 patients.
"Many of the injured are bleeding profusely. We need a lot of blood," spokesman Simon Ithae said as the hospital issued an appeal for donors.
Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue confirmed that two bombs had been used, and the area was littered with debris including clothing hurled onto overhead power and telephone lines.
"Two IEDs were detonated simultaneously," Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue told reporters at the scene, trying to reassure an increasingly sceptical public that the security forces are in control.
"Don't panic. We are on top of things," he said. Police also said two suspects had been arrested.
The United States condemned the "latest in a series of cowardly attacks on innocent civilians in Kenya" as "despicable."
"As we have for half a century, the United States stands with our Kenyan friends and partners who continue to face adversity with courage and resolve," said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
"We support them in their efforts to confront terrorism in all of its forms."
Earlier this month, three people were killed and 86 wounded in twin bus blasts in Nairobi that were blamed on militant cells connected with Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels. The previous day, twin attacks left four dead in Mombasa.
Kenya has been targeted by the Shebab since sending troops to war-torn Somalia in 2011. Kenyan soldiers are still posted in southern Somalia as part of an African Union force supporting the country's fragile internationally-backed government.
The British tourists were evacuated from beach resorts near Mombasa on Thursday and Friday following the new Foreign Office warnings.
Australia, France and the United States also issued similar warnings this week to avoid Mombasa, and in some cases Nairobi.
The Kenyan government has expressed "disappointment" at the evacuation and has accused countries that are telling tourists to stay away of "unfriendly acts."
