Islamic Al-Shabab extremists ambushed a bus in Kenya before
executing 28 non-Muslims at point-blank range in a revenge attack for police
raids on mosques in the troubled city of Mombasa.
The heavily-armed gunmen ambushed the bus early yesterday as
it headed for Nairobi from Mandera, a town that lies on the border with
Somalia. According to AFP, the extremists reportedly separated the Muslims from
the 28 victims by forcing them to read versus from the Koran . Those that
failed were shot in the head at point-blank range.
The death toll - which included 19 men and nine women - was
confirmed by Kenya's Red Cross, which said it was attempting to retrieve the
victims' bodies from the scene. Regional police chief Noah Mwavinda also told
AFP. 'I can confirm... that 28 innocent travellers were brutally execut
ed by the Shebab.Some 60 passengers were on board the bus when it was seized by the
gunmen. Gunmen waved down the bus before spraying it with bullets when it did
not stop. They then shot a rocket-propelled grenade at the vehicle , before
commandeering the bus off the road .
They ordered the passengers to get off the vehicle before
separating the travellers into Muslims and non-Muslims
One of the passengers on the bus, Ahmed Mahat, told the BBC
The driver tried to accelerate away, but the vehicle became stuck in mud caused
by recent heavy rains.About 10 heavily-armed men speaking Somali ordered the
passengers off the bus. "When we got down, passengers were separated
according to Somali and non-Somalis,"
"The non-Somalis
were ordered to read some verses of the holy Koran, and those who failed to
read were ordered to lie down. One by one they were shot in the head at point
blank range."Some Somalis were shot after pleading with the gunmen to
spare non-Somali passengers, Mr Mahat added. The attack comes after a week after
Security forces raided mosques in the city, saying they were being used
to store weapons.
The raids triggered apparent revenge attacks by Muslim
youths. Kenya has experience a series of al-Shabab attacks since it sent troops
to Somalia three years ago to help fight the militant group. Source-
AfP/BBC/Mailonlone
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