Gunmen have killed at least 29 people near a popular tourist destination in Kenya, while a dispute over who was responsible looks set to fuel political tensions.
Late on Saturday, assailants raided the trading post of Hindi and the town of Gamba in the Lamu coastal region, where 60 people were massacred last month in the deadliest attack in Kenya since the Westgate mall siege in Nairobi.
Yesterday, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attacks on Hindi and Gamba. Its military spokesman, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told AFP: "The attackers came back home safely to their base."
Kenyan police again disputed this explanation, with the deputy inspector general, Grace Kaindi, claiming that writing on a blackboard found near Hindi could implicate the Mombasa Republic Movement (MRC), a group that campaigns for independence of the coastal region. “At first we thought it was al-Shabaab, but now it is turning out that it is MRC as they have put it there clearly,” she said, adding that other slogans appeared to back opposition leader Raila Odinga. She said phrases included “MRC – You are sleeping”, “Muslims your land is being grabbed” and “Raila is adequate”.
MRC denial
Ms Kaindi added: “Preliminary investigation shows the attack was carried out by MRC members. There is also evidence that the attacks are motivated by political and religious issues.” But the MRC denied responsibility. “The government should stop using us as a scapegoat,” Randu Nzai Ruwa, its secretary-general said.
The violence threatens to hit Kenya’s crucial tourism industry and exacerbate political and ethnic unrest. President Uhuru Kenyatta insisted last month’s assaults on the coastal town of Mpeketoni were the work of “local political networks” and criminal gangs rather than Islamist militant group al-Shabaab – a claim dismissed by opposition.
Kenya's interior ministry put the death toll in Hindi at nine and said 20 died further south in the Gamba area. Robert Kitur, a senior Lamu police official, said: "We had attacks at night where people were killed and houses destroyed. We have mobilised our officers and we are on the ground."
A police source said the gunmen attacked Gamba’s police station by hijacking a truck and killing its three occupants. They killed five inmates said to be non-Muslim and freed three others, including suspects held over the attacks last month in the region. Five police officers were injured and one killed.
Witnesses said about a dozen armed men also appeared in Hindi and opened fire. Abdallah Shahasi, a senior local official, said: “They went around shooting at people and villages indiscriminately.”
Elizabeth Opindo, a local resident, said the attackers set fire to her home but let her live, explaining they did not kill women. She said there were about 10 attackers, speaking a mix of English, Swahili and Somali. “They said they were attacking because Muslims’ lands were being taken,” she said.
Kenya has been hit by deadly attacks since sending its military to fight al-Shabaab in southern Somalia in 2011. Al-Shabaab also claimed responsibility for the Mpeketoni attacks, warning: “Kenya is now officially a war zone and any tourists visiting the country do so at their own peril.”
But police arrested alleged MRC members and the governor of Lamu county, who belongs to an opposition party. Some accuse Mr Kenyatta’s government of looking for scapegoats to conceal security failings. The unrest has already hurt the tourism sector at one of its busiest times of the year.
Russian victim
In a further blow, a Russian tourist was murdered on Saturday in Mombasa while touring Fort Jesus in what police said was a violent robbery.
The attacks came as tensions rise over a mass protest by the opposition today to urge the government to convene national talks over security, costs of living, corruption and the disbandment of the electoral authority. – (Guardian service)