Mombasa - Suspected Islamist militants
beheaded nine men in an overnight attack on a village in the
Kenyan coastal district of Lamu, police said, days after Somali
militants killed three policemen in an attack on a nearby
village.
Police said there were nine bodies. A witness, who asked not
to be named, confirmed the death toll.
"They raided Jima and Poromoko villages and killed nine men.
They were slaughtered like chickens, using knives," said the
witness.
Villagers said a group of heavily armed attackers, many of
whom appeared to be ethnic Somalis, attacked the villagers at
11:00 pm. They went house to house searching for non-Muslim men
and gathered their victims together before beheading them.
Residents had called police to report suspected al-Shabaab
militants in the area earlier on Friday.
The attack is close to the village of Pandanguo, where al
Shabaab attackers killed three police officers on Friday. Al
Shabaab has frequently mounted deadly cross-border attacks on
Kenyan soil.
The al Qaeda-linked militant group wants to overthrow the
weak UN-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic
law in Somalia. They have intensified attacks in Kenya since
Kenya sent troops into Somalia.