Killed in Attack In Kenya – WETM

Kenya sent its troops to Somalia in October 2011 following a series of cross-border attacks including kidnappings which the government blamed on al-Shabab.

“People were sleeping when the attack happened”.

The gunmen raided the remote village of Soko Mbuzi near the Somalia border at around 1am Tuesday, smashed through a gate using a petrol bomb before hurling grenades at the workers and spraying those who tried to flee with bullets.

“All indications are that they were Al-Shabaab militants. They used explosives and guns”, he said.

“They were sleeping when they were attacked in the early hours of this morning”, Gullet said.

The attackers are said to escape into the nearby bushes when police arrived.

After the Garissa attack, critics accused the security forces of responding too slowly, one reason cited for the number killed in that attack.

“Our security officers have done a commendable job by rescuing 136 people from the hands of the bloodthirsty terror gangs”, he said, adding any loss of life was “painful”.

The attackers are said to have struck while residents were fast asleep.

“This [is]… what we understand, [they] were quarry workers. In total 14 people are dead”, Alex Nkoyo, commissioner for Mandera county, told Reuters by telephone.

Last December, Al-Shabaab militants are said to have killed 36 quarry workers in the same area.

In late 2014, 28 passengers were dragged from a bus near Mandera and executed.

The victims had been staying within Mandera Town, far away from the quarries to avoid an attack on them at the places of work.

Al Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda, has been increasingly targeting Kenya over its involvement in the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.