Dozens killed in two attacks on Kenya’s coast

Gunmen killed at least 29 people in two separate attacks in coastal Kenya overnight, the Interior Ministry said. The first attack happened at Hindi trading centre in Lamu county near the town of Mpeketoni, where 65 people were killed last month. Another attack took place in the Gamba area of Tana River county, where witnesses say attackers arrived waving al-Shabaab flags and speaking Somali.

There were two attacks in Lamu and Tana River last night. In Lamu we have nine people dead and in Tana River we have 20. The number could rise.

Mwenda Njoka, Interior Ministry spokesman

A military spokesman for al-Shabaab, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, said his men had returned from a successful attack and claimed 10 people had been killed in the attack. The attacks are said to be motivated by the presence of Kenyan forces in Somalia. Because Kikuyu people are most often targeted, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said he believes the attacks are ethnically and politically motivated, and have nothing to do with al-Shabaab.

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