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Nairobi — Suspected militants from the Somali-led al-Shabaab Islamist group killed at least five people in a roadside bomb attack, police said yesterday. The attack on a police truck took place on Monday in the eastern coastal county of Lamu, which borders Somalia and has been hit by a wave of attacks by the al-Qaeda linked group.
“Five people were killed in the attack, including a mother and her child,” Lamu police Chief Chrispus Mutali said, adding that five others were wounded in the attack.
All those killed were reportedly civilians who had been given a lift by the police, while the officers escaped unharmed.
Shabab militants have recently been blamed for a string of security incidents in the Lamu area, including attacks on passenger buses and a failed raid on a military base last month.
The militant group is believed to have fighters operating in the area’s Boni forest.
In mid-June 2014, close to 100 people were killed in a series of armed assaults on the town of Mpeketoni and surrounding villages in Lamu County.
These attacks, close to the once-popular holiday island of Lamu, led to a collapse in tourism on Kenya’s coast after foreign governments warned their nationals against travel to the area. — AFP
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