Five civilians lost their lives and several were beheaded during an assault on Saturday evening in two villages situated in eastern Kenya.
According to police and local sources, the assailants, armed with machetes and some carrying firearms, did not open fire but resorted to slitting the victims’ throats and decapitating others. A police source revealed, “Five people were killed… The victims’ throats were slit and others were beheaded.” The source further added that the attackers numbered between 20 and 30 individuals.
Hassan Abdul, a resident of one of the affected villages, disclosed that the women were confined within their homes, while the men were instructed to come out and subsequently bound with ropes before being massacred. “In total, five people were killed, including a secondary school pupil… All those killed had their throats slit and some were beheaded,” he stated.
The attackers, as reported by another resident named Ismail Hussein, also plundered the belongings of the villagers, including food items, before making their escape by firing shots into the air. On Sunday, Lamu County Prefect Louis Rono confirmed the attack, refraining from providing an official death toll but assuring that security in the area had been reinforced.
Shabab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, claimed responsibility for the assault on the village of Juhudi. In a statement, they declared the killing of “six members of the Kenyan infidels” and the destruction of ten houses occupied by Christians. For over 15 years, Shabab has been engaged in conflict against the Somali government, backed by the international community, striving to establish Islamic law in the Horn of Africa.
Since intervening militarily in southern Somalia in 2011 and participating in the African Union force in Somalia (Amisom, now Atmis) formed in 2012 to combat the insurgency, Kenya, located nearby, has also faced repeated attacks from Shebab. Notable incidents include the Westgate shopping centre attack in Nairobi in September 2013 (67 casualties), the assault on Garissa University in April 2015 (148 casualties), and the incident at the Dusit Hotel complex in Nairobi in January 2019 (21 casualties).
Furthermore, smaller-scale attacks frequently target police and civilians in the border counties of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu, the latter being home to the eponymous tourist island. The recent attack occurred in the vicinity of Mpeketoni, an inland town approximately 450 km from the capital Nairobi and about 120 km from the Somali border.
Previously, the area had been subjected to an attack on 2nd January 2022, attributed to Shabab, resulting in the decapitation of one man and the shooting or burning to death of five others, according to a police report. In 2014, a series of raids claimed by Shebab led to the deaths of approximately one hundred people.
On 14th June, an improvised explosive device destroyed a vehicle in Garissa county, claiming the lives of eight police officers. Additionally, on 15th May, Kenya and Somalia jointly announced the gradual reopening of three points along their land border. The border had been officially closed in 2011 in an attempt to prevent Shebab attacks.