Gunmen in Kenya attacked a quarry at Mandera town in North Kenya this morning, killing 36 Christians. According to multiple eye witnesses, the gunmen stormed the place, ordered all the non-Muslims, about 36 of them, to step away from the Muslims and then shot them all dead. One witness told Reuters that four of the victims had been beheaded.
According to local media reports, the unknown gunmen suspected to be members of the Somalia Basedal-Shabab group that killed 28 people in an attack on a bus targeting non-Muslims in the same area last week, attacked the quarry workers very early this morning while they were sleeping.
Kenya's military troop and the Red Cross have since arrived the scene of the attack. Police spokesman Zipporah Mboroki confirmed the attacks but said the force would provide an exact toll of those killed later. Media reports said most of the victims were laid out on the ground and shot in the head, a style of killing used in the recent attack on bus passengers.
Kenya has suffered a series of attacks since invading Somalia in 2011 to attack the Shebab, and its troops are still in Somalia as part of an African Union force battling the Islamists.
Media reports from Somalia said the Shebab's radio station has hailed the killing of "crusaders", although there has not yet been formal claim of responsibility from the militants.
The group said it carried out the recent attack against the bus passengers in retaliation for Kenyan police raids against suspected radical mosques in Kenya's port city of Mombasa, the scene of mounting religious tensions.
This is rather so unfortunate. May God help us L
