6 killed in Al-Shabaab attack in northeastern Kenya

By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami

Nairobi (AA) - Six people were killed early Thursday morning during an Al-Shabaab attack in Kenya’s North Eastern Province, just a few kilometers from the porous Kenyan-Somali border.

Confirming the attack, Mandera County Governor Ali Roba said in a statement, “We have suffered another sad attack in Mandera, where six have been confirmed killed and one seriously injured. We grieve with their families. Thanks to the timely response by our security teams, 27 out of 33 occupants of a plot were saved unhurt. Sadly, six lives are too many to lose.”

A senior police officer from the area, speaking to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said that the terrorists used a grenade to blow up the main gate to a residence where 33 tenants were living.

“They just shot at the tenants randomly before escaping after we arrived at the scene, and we are pursuing the attackers,” he said.

A surviving resident told Anadolu Agency that the police had responded immediately after learning of the attack, thus saving many lives.

In April 2015, Al-Shabaab killed 148 people in an offensive on Garissa University, in the bloodiest attack by the group on Kenyan soil.

Mandera has witnessed frequent Al-Shabaab attacks due to its proximity to the Kenyan-Somali border. Most of the attacks are on buses and residential houses which have left many dead and hundreds injured.