[ul]
[li] Islamist militants are suspected in the beheading of nine men in Lamu County, on Kenya’s southeast coast. The attack occurred in Jima village, James Ole Serian, leader of a task force of government security agencies combating al-Shabab, told the Associated Press.[/li][/ul]
The attack is the latest in a series of fatal assaults by al-Shabab on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Kenya’s involvement in military action against the militant group in Somalia. Kenya is one of five African nations who have sent troops to help support the fragile government in Somalia.
Friday night’s attack occurred just days after a similar attack at a police station in a nearby village of Pandaguo on Wednesday in which three police officers were killed.
Johnson Kitsao, a witness to Friday night’s attack, said about 16 armed militia attacked two villages, Jima and Poromoko. “They were targeting only male residents,” Kitsao said. “They went from house to house, dragging out men, they managed to take with them 10 men.” One of the men managed to escape, but the other nine were beheaded mercilessly, Kitsao said.
Kitsao said that it appeared to him that they were specifically looking for non-Muslim men.
Another eyewitness, Johnson Ndokolane, said the attackers were, “ruthless, using knives to slaughter the men they had held captive.”
Kweli wewe ni mungiki,i thought you were a joke but that level of ignorance is only peculiar to the mungiki breed!do you know who led the wagalla massacre?ask if you dont know ama hii pia umesuspect ni ‘foreplay’ manenos?
And now that you mention it, a minor fact about the Pandanguo attack last week was that the attackers looted food stores. That was the first time I heard that alshabbie had scavenged which is inconsistent with their normal modus. The slaughtering with knives also suggests killers who may be conserving bullets. We should also be looking for an enemy within.
Marwa said today that this are politicaly motivated deaths to intimidate certain communities to flee.The propaganda machine had sent out ‘news’ that they were more attacks that have taken place ofcourse in the style of 2007 where even before elections violence broke out in certain areas like Burnt Forest to ensure some communities flee and as a result don’t vote. This is a strategy Nyayo regime used in opposition areas. What is more mindboggling is that Alshabab could be in cohorts with certain local politicians such as Isaa Timami! This massacres like Mpeketoni seem to target male Christians. Which kills 2 birds,since the Christians are also least likely to vote for the opposition. Lamu area especially the island is fundamentalist Islamist region, there’s only one church,Catholic church. In these areas where some upcountry communities are in large numbers, religion is used to galvanize the Moslems against Christian population in the area.Am also wondering why this story is getting minimal local media airtime yet in international media its getting alot of attention. The West and US have issued travel advisories and flights out are unusually full and booked in advance in high numbers.Perhaps the media is avoiding making an already volatile situation worse by giving alot of attention to the Lamu situation.