Suspected miltants from Somalia hijacked a bus in Kenya’s north and killed 28 people on board, police officials said Saturday.
The bus traveling to the capital Nairobi with 60 passengers was hijacked at dawn Saturday about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the town Mandera near Kenya’s border with Somalia, the AP quoted two police officers as saying.
About 20 gunmen ordered all the passengers out of the bus and separated those who appeared to be non-Muslims from the rest and shot them at close range, the officers said.
A shortage of personnel and lack of equipment led to a slow response by police when the information was received, the officers said. They said the attackers have more sophisticated weaponry than the police who waited for military reinforcements before responding.
The attack is suspected to have been carried out by al-Shabab rebels in Somalia, according to Associated Press.
Kenya has been hit by a series of gun and bomb attacks blamed on al-Shabab, who are linked to al-Qaida, since it sent troops into Somalia in October 2011. Authorities say there have been at least 135 attacks by al-Shabab since then, including the assault on Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Mall in September 2013 in which 67 people were killed.
Kenyan troops are part of the African Union Mission in Somalia which is bolstering Somalia’s weak UN-backed government against the al-Shabab insurgency.
