Somali al-Shabaab says it has killed, captured Kenyan officials

Jan 12, 2012, 15:53 GMT

Nairobi - Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab on Thursday said it had killed seven Kenyan police and government employees and kidnapped an unknown number of officials from a town in northern Kenya.

Al-Shabaab said that the attack was a response to Kenya's ongoing military incursion into Somalia, and was carried out Wednesday evening on a police camp in the town of Gerille, Wajir District. The identities of those kidnapped would be released soon, the insurgents said.

'In the carefully coordinated attack, Mujahideen seized Kenyan vehicles, communication equipment and a cache of weapons during the raid,' the insurgent group said.

Kenya's police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The Islamist al-Shabaab militia has carried out a series of attacks on Kenyan targets in the regions along the two countries' shared borders since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October.

Kenya's move came in response to a string of kidnappings of tourists and aid workers from Kenyan soil, which Nairobi blamed on al-Shabaab.

The insurgent group, which has been fighting to oust Somalia's internationally backed government since early 2007 and has links to al-Qaeda, has also threatened to carry out major bomb attacks in Nairobi.

The British Foreign Office has been amongst those who have warned an attack could be imminent, and advised people to be vigilant.

A British citizen, Jermaine Grant, on Thursday appeared in a Kenyan court along with three others, charged with possessing bomb-making materials and plotting an explosion.

Grant, who was arrested in the port town of Mombasa last month, professes he is innocent.

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