Militants execute 28 non-Muslims in Kenya

Bus, which was headed for Nairobi, was ambushed shortly after departing from Mandera

KENYA/ GARISSA: Somalia’s al Shabab militants on Saturday seized a bus in Kenya, executing 28 non-Muslim passengers in what they said was revenge for police raids on mosques in the troubled port of Mombasa.

“I can confirm... that 28 innocent travellers were brutally executed by the Shabab,” regional police chief Noah Mwavinda told AFP.

The bus, which was headed for the capital Nairobi, was ambushed shortly after departing from Mandera, a town lying on the border with Somalia.

The around 60 passengers on board were ordered off and then separated by the gunmen into Muslims and non-Muslims. An al Shabab spokesman said the attack was in revenge for raids early this week on four Mombasa mosques that added to the tensions in the city.

Police this week closed the four mosques in Mombasa, a largely Muslim city unlike much of Kenya where Christians make up 80 per cent of the population, on the grounds they had come under the influence of hardliners.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2014.