SUSPECTED ALSHABAAB LEAVES 34 DEAD IN MPEKETONI IN LAMU-KENYA

At least 34 people were killed when some 50 insurgents flying black Islamist flags swept into a Kenyan coastal town firing guns in an unprecedented attack, a local government official said Monday.

“So far we have collected over 26 bodies and taken them to the mortuary, but we are still looking for more,” Benson Maisori, deputy commissioner for the district, told AFP.

The town of Mpeketoni was however reported calm on Monday morning.

The gunmen opened fire from two minibuses and set two hotels ablaze, officials said, adding that most of the victims were shot in the head.

Lamu county police commander Leonard Omollo’s driver was among those killed.

Officials said 13 bodies were discovered at Mama Monica Apartments and another seven from Capital Hotel.

BROKE INTO BANKS

Two other bodies were found at Breeze View Gust House while others were strewn all over the town.

Kenya Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki said they have only managed to retrieve 14 bodies so far but the number of those killed could be higher.

The attackers also broke into three banks; Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity and Co-operative but it is not yet clear whether they stole any money.

According to the Kenya Army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir, the gunmen entered the western town of Mpeketoni, a trading centre on the main coastal road, and started “shooting people around in town”.

The “assailants (are) likely to be Al-Shabaab,” Chirchir said, referring to Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents.

“Military surveillance planes are currently airborne to help police operations,” Kenya’s National Disaster Operation Centre said.

The town lies on the mainland some 30 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of Lamu island, a popular tourist destination whose ancient architecture is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

The shooting began around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), with gunshots reported up to four hours later.

HOTELS SET ON FIRE

Two hotels, local boarding houses in the town, were “attacked and set on fire,” the disaster centre added.

A police station and a bank were also reportedly attacked, according to residents, although officials could not confirm the extent of the fighting.

“Some buildings are on fire and we are hearing gunshots,” resident Julius Kimotho told AFP.

Benson Maisori, a senior civil servant, said four hours after attack began that “fighting is going on”.

Cafes and bars were reported to have been busy with people watching the World Cup on television.

Armed bandits also operate in the area, but army sources said that the number of gunmen involved and the apparently well planned operation pointed to the Shabaab.

The Shabaab claimed responsibility last month for killing two Kenyan soldiers in the same district as Sunday’s attack, although further north nearer to the lawless border zone with Somalia.

KENYAN TROOPS

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but it was the latest in a series of attacks or bombings to hit Kenya.

The attacks are usually blamed on the Shabaab or their supporters in Kenya.

Kenyan troops crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to fight the Shabaab, later joining the now 22,000-strong African Union force battling the Islamists.

The Shabaab vowed revenge, carrying out attacks, including one on Nairobi’s Westgate mall in September 2013 in which at least 67 people were killed.

Last month one of the Shabaab’s most senior commanders, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, released radio broadcasts urging fighters to rise up against Nairobi.

Hundreds of British tourists were also evacuated last month from beach resorts near Kenya’s port city of Mombasa following new warnings of terror attacks from Britain’s Foreign Office.

Britain this week released warnings to citizens in several East African nations — including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, who all have troops in Somalia — speaking of the threat of attacks at public screenings of the World Cup.