Elizabeth HagedornKenyans still reeling from a horrific wave of terrorist attacks woke up Sunday morning to two more overnight attacks.
Twenty-nine people are dead after heavily armed men stormed a Hindi trading centre in Lamu county and the Gamba area of Tana River county Saturday night. (Via BBC)
Witnesses told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper: “The attackers were young men dressed in jungle-wear uniforms. They carried machetes and guns and spoke mainly in Somali language.”
The gunmen reportedly set fire to several houses and attacked a police station, freeing at least one suspect. (Via KTN)
Once again, the Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the killings. The Al-Qaeda-inspired group has said before its attacks are in retaliation for Kenya’s military presence in neighboring Somalia. (Via Channel 4)
Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Kenya in the past year, including last September’s four-day siege on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, which killed 67 people. (Via K24)
Most recently, alleged Al-Shabab fighters raided the coastal resort town of Mpeketoni. Witnesses say the gunmen went door-to-door asking who was Muslim. They who answered "no" were executed. In all, 60 people died in the June attack. (Via Channels Television)
Interestingly, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta got on national TV to deny Al-Shabab had anything to do with those attacks, despite the group’s claim of responsibility. (Via Kenya CitizenTV)
A columnist for The New York Times writes many in Kenya questioned his motives: “Kenyatta’s declaration … was widely seen as a dubious effort to avoid criticism for the government’s failure to deal with the unrest spilling over from Somalia.”
The violence in this part of Kenya has taken a major toll on the country’s tourism industry. As one of Kenya's oldest inhabited towns, Lamu island is currently listed a UNESCO World Heritage site.
