NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 6 – Al Shabaab attackers opened fire on a bus in Mandera Tuesday injuring seven passengers, police said.
The attack occurred between Dabacity and Kotulo area, on a bus that was headed to the capital Nairobi from Mandera.
The bus owned by Makka bus company had left Mandera at 7 am.
“It was attacked at Dabacity bridge,” a senior police officer said, “gunmen just emerged from the bush and sprayed it with bullets on both sides.”
As a result, the officer said, the bus stalled on the middle of the road.
“The information we have from the passengers is that it was attacked by about 20 attackers,” another senior police officer said.
The attackers are said to have entered the bus and ordered non muslims and muslims to identify themselves, only to realise that all of them were muslims of Somali origin.
“They then turned their anger on the bus driver demanding to know why he did not stop when he was flagged down,” a senior police officer briefed of the incident told us, “that is when the militants left.”
The injured were rushed to Kutulo sub county hospital.
Similar attacks blamed on Al Shabaab left several people injured in the past.
