Fresh attack in Kenya’s coastal Lamu regi

AFP

Villagers near Mpeketoni set up barricades in protest at last month's violence. File /PHOTO

July 11, 2014

Unidentified gunmen raided Pandanguo village near Kenya’s coastal town of Lamu early Friday, Kenyan officials said, the latest in a string of attacks in the region.

Officials said more than 10 raiders struck at Pandanguo village, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Mpeketoni — where close to 50 people were massacred in an attack last month — stole guns from police reservists and torched houses and other buildings.

The Kenyan Red Cross said there were no reports of any casualties in the latest attack.  “The heavily armed attackers raided the village at around 1:00 am today (Friday) and disarmed six police reservists,” Kaviha Charo Karisa, a local area assistant chief, told AFP.

“They burnt several houses, including a school and a dispensary, as well as robbed people in the village. There were no casualties suffered during the attack,” he said.  It comes just days after a gang attacked and burnt offices of a conservation organisation in the area.

On Monday, armed attackers raided Amu Ranch, a community-run wildlife reserve working to support local peoples, animals and traditional ways of life, some 16 kilometres (10 miles) west of the coastal town of Lamu.

No one has claimed responsibility for the latest assaults, but the attacks the follows a string of killings in the same area in which at least 87 people have been killed, according to the Red Cross.

Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked Shebab have claimed responsibility for earlier attacks, saying they were in retaliation for Kenya’s military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force supporting the country’s fragile and internationally-backed government.

However, police and government officials have blamed the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a group that campaigns for independence of the coastal region.