NAIROBI: At least six people were killed on Friday when suspected sprayed two buses with bullets in Kenya’s Mandera county on the border with Somalia, a regional official said.
“Police on the scene have found six persons shot dead,” said police chief Joseph Boinnet. “The hunt for the terrorists is under way.”
Boinnet said two people were also injured. It was unclear whether the casualties were civilians or police officer guards aboard the buses.
Mandera County Commissioner Fredrick Shisia told Reuters the attack happened at 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) as the buses were traveling to Mandera town from the capital Nairobi.
“So far we are talking of six dead,” he said, noting that the attack had happened on the road between Wargadud and Elwak.
The early morning ambush happened near El Wak in Mandera county, an impoverished rural part of the country where similar deadly attacks in the past have been claimed by the Al-Shabab.
The deadliest raid was in November 2014 when gunmen flagged down a commuter bus, separated passengers by religion and executed 28 non-Muslims.
A similar raid in December 2015 left two people dead, after Muslim passengers shielded their Christian fellows.
The Shabab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the insurgents.
Since then the Shabab has carried out frequent attacks on civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a Nairobi mall, a northeastern university and coastal villages.
On Thursday the US State Department issued a warning to its citizens to “avoid travel to the border areas of Kenya because of threats by the terrorist group Shabab” with El Wak and Mandera among the areas ruled off-limits.
A senior Kenyan Interior Ministry official said the warning was unfair because, “the security of the country has been restored.”
“Police on the scene have found six persons shot dead,” said police chief Joseph Boinnet. “The hunt for the terrorists is under way.”
Boinnet said two people were also injured. It was unclear whether the casualties were civilians or police officer guards aboard the buses.
Mandera County Commissioner Fredrick Shisia told Reuters the attack happened at 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) as the buses were traveling to Mandera town from the capital Nairobi.
“So far we are talking of six dead,” he said, noting that the attack had happened on the road between Wargadud and Elwak.
The early morning ambush happened near El Wak in Mandera county, an impoverished rural part of the country where similar deadly attacks in the past have been claimed by the Al-Shabab.
The deadliest raid was in November 2014 when gunmen flagged down a commuter bus, separated passengers by religion and executed 28 non-Muslims.
A similar raid in December 2015 left two people dead, after Muslim passengers shielded their Christian fellows.
The Shabab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the insurgents.
Since then the Shabab has carried out frequent attacks on civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a Nairobi mall, a northeastern university and coastal villages.
On Thursday the US State Department issued a warning to its citizens to “avoid travel to the border areas of Kenya because of threats by the terrorist group Shabab” with El Wak and Mandera among the areas ruled off-limits.
A senior Kenyan Interior Ministry official said the warning was unfair because, “the security of the country has been restored.”
