Suspected Shebab gunmen raided a Kenyan military base and briefly took over a village on Sunday in the latest attacks highlighting the insecurity that plagues parts of the country.
Both attacks in Lamu county on Kenya’s coast close to the border with <g data-gr-id="14">Somalia,</g> were blamed on the
Somali-led Al-Qaeda affiliate that has in recent months focused more attention on Kenya.
A spokesman for the Kenya Defence Forces claimed that 11 Shebab militants were killed, including “two fighters of Caucasian origin”. Two Kenyan soldiers were also killed in the pre-dawn assault on a military camp in Baure, said Colonel David Obonyo.
Obonyo said weapons including 13 AK-47 assault rifles, five rocket-propelled grenades and eight hand grenades were recovered. Also early on Sunday, at least 60 militants raided the nearby town of <g data-gr-id="17">Mangai</g>, ordering residents out of their homes and gathering them at a mosque where they preached for three hours, according to local media.
Chief Yusuf Nuri, a local official, told the Daily Nation newspaper that the gunmen also conducted prayers, ransacked a dispensary and burned mattresses at a primary school before escaping.