Somalia AL-Shabab hijacked a bus, kills 28 in Kenya

Al-Shabab fighters from Somalia hijacked a bus in Kenya's north and killed 28 non-Muslims on board after they had been singled out from the rest of the passengers.

Police officer said the bus was travelling to the capital Nairobi with 60 passengers and was hijacked 50km from the town of Mandera near Kenya's border with Somalia.

Al-Shabab has released a statement claiming responsibility for the bus attack, saying the attack was revenge for raids carried out by Kenyan security forces on mosques in the coastal city of Mombasa.

 

 

"By the grace of Allah, the Mujahideen successfully carried out an operation near Mandera early this morning, which resulted in the perishing of 28 crusaders, as a revenge for the crimes committed by the Kenyan crusaders against our Muslim brethren in Mombasa,"

The interior ministry confirmed today’s attack, saying via its official Twitter handle: "Security agencies are in pursuit of the criminal gang. We'll give a comprehensive update once preliminary reports are out."

Police said the attackers, who were heavily-armed, fled towards the border between Kenya and Somalia, adding that a security team has been deployed to the area to capture the attackers.

During the attack, passengers were separated into groups according to their religion. Non-Muslims, were executed and Muslims were freed. The assailants attempted to take the bus but it got stuck in mud on the unpaved road.  Among those killed were two security officers and teachers who were travelling to their home towns on holiday.

 

Source: Aljazeera