Suspected Shebab kill 14 in northern Kenya attack

However, Somalia-based “al-Shabaab” militants have carried out several similar attacks in Kenya since Kenyan troops joined the effort in Somalia to battle the Al-Qaida-linked fighters in 2011.

The attack occurred just outside the town of Mandera in Kenya’s far northeastern region, which borders Ethiopia and war-torn Somalia.

A pro-Shebaab website, Somalimemo, said the Al Qaeda-affiliated rebels had confirmed they carried out the attack against “Christian Kenyans”.

Al-Shabab gunmen attacked Garissa University College in northeast Kenya early Thursday, targeting Christians and killing over 100 people and wounding others, according to Kenya’s national disaster operations center and the interior minister.

No one claimed responsibility for the Mandera town attack, but it’s widely believed to be al-Shabaab.

Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet said the organization was preparing to evacuate the 11 wounded workers from the area.

The attack was focused on a compound housing quarry workers.

“”(There are) 13 people who are dead.

In December past year, the militants killed 36 quarry workers in Mandera, after which, the local government ordered workers to leave the quarries and move to town given the security reasons.

Mandera County Comissioner Alex Nyoko told CNN the attack began around 1 a.m. He said an explosive device was used to blow open a gate to the compound, after which the attackers entered and started shooting.

He said the affected area and the neighbouring settlements have been immediately cordoned off by the security respond team who will conduct house to house search to ensure the assailants do not manage to hide themselves among the people living in the crowded settlement.

In 2013, four Shebab gunmen killed at least 67 people in an assault on the Westgate mall in the capital Nairobi.