Al-Shabab Claims Responsibility for Deadly Attack on Kenya Quarry

MOSCOW, December 2 (Sputnik) — Al-Shabab, the militant group from Somalia, has announced it is responsible for an overnight attack in Kenya’s restive Mandera county, which left at least 36 workers dead, Reuters reports.

"In another successful operation carried out by the Mujahideen, nearly 40 Kenyan crusaders met their demise after a unit from the Saleh Nabhan brigade raided them in the midnight hours of Monday at Koromei, on the outskirts of Mandera," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, spokesman for the militant group, said in statement to AFP.

Al-Shabab militants attacked the workers at the Korome quarry while they were sleeping in their tents. Four of the victims were beheaded, while the others were shot in the head, Reuters reported, citing witness account.

There are fears that more workers will be killed, as some remain unaccounted for. "We have lost 36 people, but there are others missing," said a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as quoted by AFP. "We don’t know whether they were taken by the attackers," he added.

One person was killed and 12 injured in a separate attack, which took place Monday night, according to AFP. Last month, Islamists hijacked a bus and executed 28 passengers in the same area. They claimed the assault was retaliation for police raids in Kenya’s key port of Mombasa.

Kenya has been often hit by the Islamists since the country joined African Union campaign to destroy al-Shabab in Somalia. Al-Shabab, a clan-based militant group linked to al-Qaeda, took over most of southern Somalia in 2006 and later advanced to the central areas of the country.