Ngonda village in Kigumo Murang‘a county was on Sunday, May 8 brought to a standstill after a farmhand unearthed a mortar bomb believed to have been used by the British colonial army in the 1950s.

The residents who had panicked fearing for their lives had claimed in the local dialect that the object was a ‘Karobosta’ to mean a missile, whereas others had claimed that it was an overgrown Arrow root.

"Bemused villagers milled around the object some claiming in the local dialect, that it was a ‘Karobosta’ i.e a missile, while others claimed that it was an overgrown Arrow root,

"So concerned were the villagers that two children were dispatched to the homestead of a retired military officer 3 kilometers away since calls to his phone went unanswered, to come and ascertain whether it was truly a ‘Karobosta’ as claimed by a majority," DCI stated.

The area chief got wind of the discovery and called detectives based at Ngonda police station who invited experts from the Forensic Bomb Disposal and Hazardous materials unit who confirmed that the object was an 84mm mortar bomb, adding that the weapon was most likely abandoned by British forces during the Mau Mau rebellion in 1953, during the bombardment by the colonial army to fight Mau Mau fighters.

Meanwhile, the Kinoti-led agency stated that bomb experts will detonate the missile today, Monday, May 9.