Kenya probes death of 37 people in separate attacks

NAIROBI, Dec. 2 -- The Kenyan government said it has launched investigations into two separate terror incidents in Wajir and Mandera counties in northern Kenya in which 37 people were killed and 13 others injured.

Presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu said heavily armed bandits raided a quarry workers' camp at Koromey area in the outskirts of Mandera town at around 2 a.m., killing 36 people.

"Survivors of the attack indicate that the bandits numbered some 20 people," Esipisu said in a statement issue in Nairobi.

In another incident at 8.30 p.m. on Monday evening, three masked gunmen stormed Ngamia Club in Wajir Town and started shooting, but were repulsed by the security forces who engaged them in the shootout.

Unfortunately, Esipisu said, one Kenyan was killed and 13 others injured in the incident. The injured are being attended to.

"The government sends messages of condolences to the families of those who have lost their dear ones and stands by them during this difficult time. Investigations are underway in regard to both incidents," he said.

The latest incidents come barely two weeks after Al-Shabaab ambushed a Nairobi-bound bus and killed 28 non-Muslim passengers. Police are yet to make any arrest in the latest incidents.

Several civilians including policemen have been killed especially in the northern counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera which are near the border with Somalia since Kenya sent peacekeeping troops to Somalia in 2011.

Subsequent efforts to fight terrorism and neutralise Al-Shabaab threats have seen anti-terrorism police unit arrest dozens of Kenyans on suspicion of being members of the Somali terror group.

Police have said most of those who are being used to carry out terror attacks in Kenya are its own youth, who have been enlisted in the Somali-based extremist group. Most of them are from upcountry Kenya and are recent converts to Islam.

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