Four construction workers shot dead in northern Kenya, near the border with Somalia

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 1 minute read

NAIROBI, KENYA – Gunmen in northern Kenya shot dead four construction workers at a hospital site near a refugee camp and the border with Somalia where a militant group is active, it said Saturday the police.

A group of eight workers were resting Friday when they were attacked, leaving four people shot dead at close range, a police official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation told The Associated Press. question. The other four workers escaped unhurt, the official said.

The hospital construction site is close to Kenya's largest refugee camp, Dadaab, and the border with Somalia, where the militant group al-Shabab is based. Garissa County has previously been attacked by Al-Shabab militants crossing the porous border.

Local police say Friday's attack may have been organized by an armed group that had warned the contractor to stay away from the area, which it considers its territory.

Northern Kenya has experienced violence in recent days which has left several people dead in different places.

On Wednesday, police at the Mandera border post recovered an improvised explosive device that was about to detonate. Last week, two herders were killed at a water point also in the Mandera region by armed men. In April, five people were killed when a donkey cart exploded in the town of Elwak.

The government says security operations in northern Kenya have been stepped up.

The recent attacks have forced the government to suspend plans to reopen the 700-kilometer (434-mile) Kenya-Somalia border, closed in 2011, although illegal crossings are still common.