At least 50 people were killed when suspected Islamist
gunmen in minibuses sped into a town on Kenya’s coast, shooting soccer fans
watching a World Cup match in a television hall and targeting hotels, a police
post and a bank, Reuters report.
Police said Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist group was most likely
to blame for Sunday night’s assault on the town of Mpeketoni, which lies on the
Indian Ocean coastline that runs north from Kenya’s main port of Mombasa to the
Somali border.
Somali website www.somalimemo.net said the Islamist group
had claimed responsibility. It gave no details and the group’s spokesman could
not be reached for comment on the assault, the latest in a spate of gun and
bomb attacks in recent months that have hurt Kenya’s struggling tourist
industry.
Kenya, which has blamed al Shabaab for previous attacks, had
said it would be on alert during the World Cup to ensure public showings of
matches were kept safe.
“The attackers were so many and were all armed with guns.
They entered the video hall where we were watching a World Cup match and shot
indiscriminately at us,” Meshack Kimani told Reuters by telephone. “They
targeted only men but I was lucky. I escaped by hiding behind the door.”
The attack could heighten existing worries in other African
nations such as Nigeria, which is battling the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency,
that bars and other venues hosting World Cup match screenings could become
targets.
Sunday’s assault is the worst in Kenya since last September
when al Shabaab gunmen attacked Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, leaving 67
people dead.
After Westgate, Al Shabaab warned of more attacks, saying
they were determined to drive Kenyan troops out of Somalia.
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