Al-Shabaab kills 12 in attack targeting Christians

Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed a Kenyan guesthouse and killed 12 people in an attack early this morning, officials confirmed today.

Mohamed Saleh, regional commander of Mandera County, said the gunmen used grenades and improvised explosives to break into the Bishaaro guesthouse at about 2:30 a.m. and started shooting at the guests. Police said 10 of the victims who came into the guesthouse on Monday night were part of a touring group that showcases textbooks in schools.

Officials spent the morning searching through the rubble for more people.

“All occupants at the hotel were evacuated, and six have been rescued alive from the debris,” government spokesman John Kiraithe said in a statement.

One survivor, Veronica Wambui, said the attackers went around to each room killing people. Wambui said she and some of her colleagues hid in a storeroom when the attackers set off another explosion that made the wall collapse on her.

“I could see the light from the torch when they were checking out the room, but the collapsed wall had covered me,” she said.

Somali-based al-Shabaab took responsibility for the attack and said it was targeting Christians. The Islamic extremist group announced on its Radio Andalus that it had killed “15 Kenyan infidels.” Earlier this month, al-Shabaab staged a similar attack on non-Muslims when it killed six people in a gated residential building also in Mandera County. Police said they are still searching for the attackers with the help of antiterrorism officers and sniffer dogs.

The Somali-based terror group has continuously staged attacks in Kenya after the country sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to help fight the insurgent group. Hours before the guesthouse attack, al-Shabaab gunmen shot and killed a senior intelligence official as he walked to the mosque late Monday night in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

In some other towns across Somalia, al-Shabaab is regaining control after hundreds of Ethiopian troops serving with the African Union mission force withdrew. The extremist group on Sunday retook the town of Halgan, the third town this month. The group announced the town’s recapture and stationed its flag on the district headquarters.