The person who died in Saturday night's blast was a Kenya Defence Force soldier, police have clarified. Earlier, it had been suspected that the blast victim was suicide bomber.

Witnesses said the soldier who was in the company of a girl friend met two Administration Police officers who were on a night patrol along the Wajir Cold Drinks Street stopped the soldier and his companion and asked them to identify themselves before a grenade was hauled at the them.

Three other people who were injured in the blast, including the soldier's girlfriend, were admitted to Wajir District Hospital. Until the Saturday incident, Wajir had enjoyed relative calm after a spate of attacks by suspected Al-Shabab militants who have been uprooted from their Kisimayu base in Somalia.

On Thursday, three police officers were seriously injured after a hand grenade was hurled at them at the Ifo 2 refugee camp in Dadaab. The officers were patrolling the camp.

North Eastern has been subjected to a series of grenade and gun attacks that target security officers. Dozens have died since Kenya drove into Somalia in 2011 to pursue Al Shabaab militants.