Update | Somali al-Shabab militants claim responsibility for Kenya attack that killed dozens
Al-Qaeda-linked group says attack was revenge for the “Kenyan government’s brutal oppression of Muslims and extrajudicial killings of Muslim scholars”
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al Shebab militants on Monday said they carried out an attack on a town on Kenya’s coast that left 50 dead, and warned tourists and foreigners to stay away from Kenya.
A statement from the group said the attack was revenge for the “Kenyan government’s brutal oppression of Muslims in Kenya through coercion, intimidation and extrajudicial killings of Muslim scholars.”
It also condemned the “Kenyan military’s continued invasion and occupation of our Muslim lands and the massacre of innocent Muslims in Somalia.”
Foreigners with any regard for their safety and security should stay away from Kenya or suffer the bitter consequences of their folly. You have been forewarned!
“To the tourists visiting Kenya we say this: Kenya is now officially a war zone and as such any tourists visiting the country do so at their own peril,” the group said.
“Foreigners with any regard for their safety and security should stay away from Kenya or suffer the bitter consequences of their folly. You have been forewarned!” it added.
At least 50 people were killed when gunmen in two minibuses sped into a town on Kenya’s coast, shooting soccer fans watching a World Cup match in a television hall and targeting two hotels, a police post and a bank, officials and witnesses said on Monday.
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.