PRETORIA, June 16. /ITAR-TASS/. At least 48 people have died after terrorists attacked Kenya’s coastal town of Mpeketoni, the regional Red Cross branch reported on Monday.
On Sunday, the town on the Indian Ocean coast was attacked by suspected militants from al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliated group from Somalia. Around 50 gunmen assaulted various locations across the town. Several buildings have been destroyed, including government offices, hotels, restaurants, and banks. The terrorists also tried to seize a police station and its weapons caches, but their attack was repelled.
Earlier, al-Shabaab repeatedly threatened to attack the US, Kenya and Uganda. One of the group’s senior commanders Fuad Shangole said al-Shabaab would carry its jihad to Kenya, Uganda, “and afterward, with God’s will, to America.”
Kenya and Uganda sent troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabaab Islamists. In September 2013, the group orchestrated a terrorist attack on Westgate mall in Kenya’s Nairobi, killing 68 people. In 2012, al-Shabaab staged suicide bombings in Uganda’s capital Kampala, which were carried out against crowds watching a screening of 2010 FIFA World Cup Final match. The attacks left 70 people dead.