Red Cross: 22 dead in attacks on Kenyan coast

March 11, 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Twenty-two people were killed in
overnight attacks by gunmen in two counties on the Kenyan coast, where
al-Qaida-linked militants last month claimed responsibility for killing
65 people, the Kenya Red Cross said Sunday.
The Saturday night
attacks took place in the towns of Hindi in Lamu county and Gamba in
Tana River, Kenya Red Cross chief Abbas Gulet said. Al-Qaida-linked
al-Shabab militants from Somalia claimed responsibility for the attacks.
According
to the Lamu county commissioner Njenga Miiri, a group of about 15
gunmen raided the Malamandi village of Hindi and started shooting at
residents. The gunmen also attacked Gamba police station, Kenya’s police
chief David Kimaiyo said.
Hindi is about 40 kilometers (25 miles)
north of Mpeketoni where dozens were killed in an attack last month,
while Gamba is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Mpeketoni.
Police said 13 people were killed in Hindi, while in Gamba nine others were killed and one person was
missing.
The
nine victims in Gamba included five inmates said to be non-Muslim, who
were killed when the gunmen attacked the police station, said a senior
police officer who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized
to speak with the media. Three other inmates escaped with the gunmen.
The
officer said the gunmen got to the police station by car-jacking a
truck and killing its three occupants. Five police officers were wounded
in the attack and one officer was killed, he said.
Kenya has suffered a spate of gun and explosive attacks since deploying its troops in Oct. 2011 to fight
al-Shabab militants.
Al-Shabab
claimed responsibility for an attack last month on the town of
Mpeketoni on the Kenyan coast and another attack the following day on a
nearby village. Despite that, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the
interior minister have blamed local political networks for those attacks
and said they were planned locally — assertions that have been met with
skepticism.
Late last month police arrested Lamu Governor Issa
Timamy and charged him for murder, forceful eviction of population and
terrorism charges in connection to the Mpeketoni attacks.
The
attacks come as tensions continued to rise in the country over a planned
mass protest by the opposition on Monday to urge the government to
convene national talks over topics including security, increasing costs
of living, corruption and the disbandment of the electoral authority.
Church leaders have warned Monday’s planned protest could further split the country along tribal lines.

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