28 dead as gunmen attack bus in Kenya

Gunmen have attacked a bus and reportedly killed at least 28 eight passengers who were heading to the Kenyan capital Nairobi from Mandera in country’s northeast, local media said.

A reporter for Kenya’s Standard newspaper told Al Jazeera Saturday’s attack happened at 5:45am local time when the bus had covered 8km of the journey.


Quoting Mandera County Commissioner, journalist Boniface Mungeri said the attack was carried out by “about 100 gunmen who commandeered” the bus and forced the passengers out.

Mungeri said the passengers were separated into groups according to their religion. Non-Muslims, the reporter said, were executed and Muslims were freed. The assailants attempted to take the bus but it got stuck in mud on the unpaved road.

Among those killed were two security officers and teachers who were travelling to their home towns on holiday, said the reporter.

The Kenyan Inspector General of Police was scheduled to hold a news conference on the incident at 07:00 GMT.

Kenyan authorities have blamed the Somali armed group al-Shabab for the attack. Mandera shares a border with Somalia, where Kenya sent troops in 2011 after raids on its coastal towns blamed on al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab has also been blamed for the September 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall, which killed 77 people.

(Al Jazeera)