NAIROBI, Kenya – Masked gunmen sprayed bullets and hurled grenades at two churches in a northern Kenyan town on Sunday, killing at least 15 people and injuring scores more, police officials said. It was the latest in a series of attacks on this East African nation allegedly linked to al-Qaeda militants in neighboring Somalia.
The coordinated assaults unfolded in the town of Garissa, a predominantly Muslim enclave about 120 miles from the Somalia border that Kenyan forces have used as a base of operations to fight Somalia’s Al-Shabab militia.
“We have 17 bodies at the mortuary so far,” regional medical officer Abdikadir Sheikh told Reuters.
The attack came two days after gunmen kidnapped four aid workers from Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, about 60 miles from Garissa, and killed their driver before fleeing with the hostages into Somalia.
According to regional deputy police chief Philip Ndolo, Sunday’s attacks unfolded around 10.15 a.m. in the town of 150,000 people. Men wearing balaclava ski masks struck the Catholic Church and the African Inland Church, two miles apart, hurling grenades and then opening fire on worshippers as they fled the church. Worst hit was the African Inland Church, where all 15 of the victims died, as many as 45 were injured.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion immediately fell on Al-Shabab. Ever since Kenyan military forces launched operations inside Somalia in October, in an effort to weaken the control of the Islamists, Kenya has experienced a spate of insecurity, harming its tourism industry and threatening its economic growth.
Assaults have targeted bus stations and other public areas, including a grenade attack on a nightclub in the port city of Mombasa last Sunday, a day after the U.S. Embassy warned of an imminent terrorist attack there.
Al Shabab militants were suspected of orchestrating grenade attacks against two churches in March and April in Kenya. But this Sunday’s twin attacks was reminiscent of attacks against churches by the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram, who have killed scores of Christian worshippers in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria. U.S. military officials say there are strategic and inspirational links between Al Shabab, Boko Haram and the al-Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa.
The coordinated assaults unfolded in the town of Garissa, a predominantly Muslim enclave about 120 miles from the Somalia border that Kenyan forces have used as a base of operations to fight Somalia’s Al-Shabab militia.
“We have 17 bodies at the mortuary so far,” regional medical officer Abdikadir Sheikh told Reuters.
The attack came two days after gunmen kidnapped four aid workers from Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, about 60 miles from Garissa, and killed their driver before fleeing with the hostages into Somalia.
According to regional deputy police chief Philip Ndolo, Sunday’s attacks unfolded around 10.15 a.m. in the town of 150,000 people. Men wearing balaclava ski masks struck the Catholic Church and the African Inland Church, two miles apart, hurling grenades and then opening fire on worshippers as they fled the church. Worst hit was the African Inland Church, where all 15 of the victims died, as many as 45 were injured.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion immediately fell on Al-Shabab. Ever since Kenyan military forces launched operations inside Somalia in October, in an effort to weaken the control of the Islamists, Kenya has experienced a spate of insecurity, harming its tourism industry and threatening its economic growth.
Assaults have targeted bus stations and other public areas, including a grenade attack on a nightclub in the port city of Mombasa last Sunday, a day after the U.S. Embassy warned of an imminent terrorist attack there.
Al Shabab militants were suspected of orchestrating grenade attacks against two churches in March and April in Kenya. But this Sunday’s twin attacks was reminiscent of attacks against churches by the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram, who have killed scores of Christian worshippers in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria. U.S. military officials say there are strategic and inspirational links between Al Shabab, Boko Haram and the al-Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa.