At Least 29 people were killed in overnight attacks by gunmen on the Kenyan coast, the Kenya Red Cross said Sunday, according to Reuters
Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed responsibility but Kenyan officials blamed local separatists, Reuters reported.
The Saturday night attacks left 13 dead in the town of Hindi and nine dead and one person missing in the town of Gamba, in neighboring Lamu and Tana Delta counties, Kenya Red Cross chief Abbas Gulet said, according to Reuters.
Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants from Somalia claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks, just like they did for others last month that killed 65 people, Reuters reported.
About 15 gunmen raided the town of Hindi and started shooting at residents, according to the Lamu county commissioner Njenga Miiri, according to Reuters. The assailants allegedly burned several buildings, including a church, and also attacked the Gamba police station, Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo said.
The victims in Gamba included five non-Muslim inmates killed when the gunmen attacked the police station, said a senior police officer who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak with the media, Reuters reported. Three other inmates escaped with the gunmen, according to the officer.
Grace Kaindi, a deputy inspector general of police, told reporters Sunday that preliminary investigations pointed to the separatist group Mombasa Republican Council, according to Reuters. She showed a message allegedly left by the attackers on a blackboard at a school that called on Muslims to rise up, take back their land and kick out Christians from the coast.
The message also suggested the attackers support opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Reuters reported.
Kenya has witnessed a notable increase in attacks since deploying troops in Oct. 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants, according to Reuters. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a deadly attack last month on the town of Mpeketoni on the Kenyan coast and another attack the following day on a nearby village.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the interior minister have blamed local political networks for those attacks, though his assertions are met with skepticism, Reuters reported.
