NAIROBI, Kenya – The killers in the Kenyan village singled out non-Muslims Monday night, shooting them point-blank or slitting their throats, just like the previous night in an adjacent hamlet. A Somali extremist group claimed responsibility but Kenya’s president on Tuesday blamed local political networks for the 60 deaths.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, in a national address, said al-Shabab, a Somali group linked to al-Qaida, was not behind the attacks.
But other Kenyan leaders said the second night of deadly attacks against a Christian community on Kenya’s north coast seemed designed to try to inflame religious tensions, and al-Shabab said such attacks will continue in retaliation for what it considers Kenya’s oppression of innocent Muslims.
An office of Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio was destroyed in the first attack, but TWR spokesman Jon Hill says the office was empty at the time. He says the Christian radio station, located on Lamu island 18 miles offshore, continues to broadcast, with an emphasis on the need for peace and reconciliation.
