Kenya: More Than 21 People Killed in Hindi,Gamba Twin Attacks

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At least 21 people have been killed in twin attacks on Saturday night at Hindi in Lamu and Gamba in Tana River according to Kenya Red Cross.

In Hindi, 12 bodies have been recovered from the bushes where others are still lying following a raid by suspected Al shabaab militia.

The attackers killed nine others at Gamba police station including a police sergeant manning the station. They then hijacked a truck with unknown number of people. The truck is yet to be found.

Most bodies had deep cuts and some had hands tied in their backs just like those killed in Witu two weeks ago.

Earlier in the day some suspects had been arrested at Mpeketoni including a key suspect of the last month attacks in the area and were being held at Gamba police station. Sources say the attackers freed the four at around 11pm on Saturday.

Two casualties from the Hindi attacks have been taken to Lamu District hospital while two police officers injured during the Gamba attacks have been evacuated to Malindi district hospital.

Shooting was reported in Hindi area at around 11 pm.Hindi is around 15kms from Lamu.

Although police remain mum on the attackers but a spokesman for Al Shabaab issued a statement claiming that the Al-Qaeda-linked group's fighters had carried out another attack in the area.

"The attackers came back home safely to their base," Al Shabaab military spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP. The group claimed that 10 people had been killed in the attack.

Al Shabaab also claimed responsibility for last month's attack at Mpeketoni, saying it was in retaliation for Kenya's military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force backing the country's fragile and internationally-backed government.

Survivors of the massacre in the town and a similar attack the following night in a nearby village reported gunmen speaking Somali and carrying Shebab flags killed non-Muslims and said their actions were revenge for Kenya's military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force fighting the Islamists.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, however, denied that the Al Shabaab were involved and instead blamed "local political networks" and said that the victims had been singled out because of their ethnicity.