MOSCOW, November 23 (Sputnik) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing of 28 people on a bus in Kenya, the United Nations has said.
"United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the brutal killing of almost 30 people on a bus in Mandera, Kenya in the latest spate of terrorist violence to afflict the East African nation," the organization said on Saturday.
The secretary general expressed his "profound condolences" to the victims' families and said that the UN continued to support Kenya in its "efforts to address the scourge of terrorism".
He also expressed hope that those responsible for the attack would be quickly brought to justice.
On Saturday, 28 people of the total 60 travelling on a bus to Nairobi were murdered in Mandera County near Kenya-Somalia border by militants who claim to belong to the al-Shabaab extremist group. The attackers are said to have ordered the passengers to read from the Koran and killed those who failed to do so.
Kenyan presidential adviser Abdikadir Mohamed said that this incident was an attempt to start a religious war in the country, creating conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim population.
Al-Shabaab is a militant group in Somalia that took over most of country's southern region in 2006 and continued its insurgency in southern and central areas of the country.
In 2011, Kenya declared war on al-Shabaab and sent troops to Somalia. Since then, north-eastern regions of Kenya have been under a number of terror attacks by the militants.
