Somalia militant group have killed at least 14 quarry workers near the north Kenyan town of Mandera, witnesses and officials confirm.
The attack on the quarry workers took place around midnight on Monday. According to local reports, the workers were attacked as they slept at the quarry in Mandera County, near the border with Somalia.
An Al Shabaab spokesman admitted carrying out the attack and said it was targeting “Kenyan crusaders”.
He added that the attack was in response to the recent Kenyan military forces operation that killed 11 members of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group.
Last year, al-Shabaab militants killed at least 36 quarry workers in the same area, singling out non-Muslims and either beheading or shooting them.
Some reports say that one Somali woman believed to be the owner of the house they were sleeping had tried to stop the militants but they had instead shot her dead.
Since the Westgate attack, Kenya has suffered from a string of gun and bomb attacks on the coast, in the capital Nairobi and along the long porous northern border with Somalia.
The government typically blames al Shabaab and has promised to step up security, but the public has grown increasingly frustrated.
Horseed Media
Al-Shabaab militants kill 14 quarry workers near Kenya-Somalia border
Published: July 7, 2015