NAIROBI: At least nine people were shot and hacked to death in Kenya’s coastal Lamu County early yesterday, in the latest attack on the area.
Police sources said Al Shabab militants were believed to be behind the killings which took place in Jima and Pandaguo villages near the Somali border — an area that has seen a wave of recent attacks, mostly targeting the security forces.
“Nine people were killed, some were shot dead and others hacked [to death],” said a regional police officer who was not authorised to speak to the press. All the victims are civilians. A senior officer at police headquarters in Nairobi confirmed the incident. “It is true, we have lost nine people in today’s attack,” the officer said, without providing further details.
Earlier in the week, three police were killed in an attack on a police post in Lamu. Al Shabab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu but also carries out regular attacks in neighbouring Kenya which has troops in Somalia.
No vacuum in security
In a televised address yesterday morning following the death in hospital of Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery, President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke of “an unfortunate incident this morning, which we are assessing.”
Appointing Education Minister Fred Matiangi as acting security minister Kenyatta promised there would be “no vacuum in securing our country.
Kenya goes to the polls on August 8 with Kenyatta hoping to win a second and final four-year term.
Al Shabab in recent months also has increased attacks in Kenya with homemade bombs, killing at least 46 in Lamu and Mandera counties.
The increase in attacks presents a huge problem for Kenya’s security agencies ahead of the August 8 presidential election, said security analyst and former US Marine Andrew Franklin.
Severe threat
On election day security agencies will be strained while attempting stop any possible violence and Al Shabab could take advantage, he said.
Kenya is among five countries contributing troops to an African Union force that is bolstering Somalia’s fragile central government against Al Shabab’s insurgency.
