Armed men burn police camp, homes and vehicles on Kenya coast
Tue Jul 8, 2014 3:03pm GMT
* Government promises to track down culprits
* Uncertainty about who is behind attacks worries locals
* Hundreds of families flee Lamu region to find safety
* Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for other attacks (Adds al Shabaab
denies sent leaflets, government announces arrests)
By Joseph Akwiri
MOMBASA, Kenya, July 8 (Reuters) - Armed assailants have attacked a camp of
police reservists and burned down nearby homes and businesses, a regional
official said on Tuesday, as violence escalates on Kenya's northern coast.
But there were no reported deaths this time.
In the nearby coastal town of Lamu, residents also reported finding leaflets
strewn about threatening Christians and the government. The leaflets
purported to be from the Somalia's al Shabaab Islamists, but the group
denied it sent them.
The government has promised to track down those behind attacks on coastal
towns and villages, most of which have been deadly, but worried locals say
the repeated assaults show the state is not doing enough or is powerless to
stop them.
Hundreds of families have fled homes in Lamu County, where the worst attacks
have occurred, sheltering in camps near police posts or fleeing the region
altogether.
A once vibrant tourist trade in the area and all along the coast has been
hammered.
"The assailants attacked a camp belonging to Kenya police reservists in
Hindi and burnt it down before they burnt down other houses and businesses
in Amu Ranch," Lamu County Commissioner Miiri Njenga told Reuters.
The attackers, who struck late on Monday, also set vehicles on fire.
Hindi was the site of an attack on Saturday that killed 9 people and Amu
Ranch is nearby. Both are close to Mpeketoni area, the site of two assaults
in mid-June that left 65 dead.
Raising tensions, residents of Lamu, a historic Arab trading port and
capital of the county, said leaflets were spread in the town warning
Christians and the government not to victimise Muslims, without saying what
could happen if they did.
The leaflets, which were pinned to electricity polls and trees or simply
found strewn on the ground, bore the emblem of the al Shabaab Islamist
group, which claims most attacks and has vowed to drive Kenyan and African
Union forces out of Somalia.
But the Somali group denied using such techniques. "We use something better:
the power of force," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military
operations spokesman, told Reuters.
FEAR
The coast, notably around Lamu, has a history of land disputes where
traditional coastal peoples accuse ethnic groups from up country of taking
their property. Among relative newcomers are Kikuyus, President Uhuru
Kenyatta's ethnic group.
"We think they (the leaflets) are meant to instil fear in locals who are not
originally from here (Lamu) and we are trying to establish the source and
authors," Njenga said.
The government has said recent attacks had nothing to do with al Shabaab and
instead blamed local groups - seen as directed at their political opponents.
Police have also suggested a coastal separatist group could have a role.
Deputy President William Ruto, who visited the Lamu area this week and gave
police 48 hours to catch those behind the recent attacks, said on Twitter
that 50 suspects, including one with gunshot wounds, had been arrested in
Lamu County and Tana River area, where there was an assault at the weekend.
The uncertainty about who is to blame has made many Kenyans even more
nervous, because they fear that the security forces will struggle to prevent
more attacks if officials cannot agree on who is behind them.
One former security official suggested the attacks could involve several
sets of people. Al Shabaab might be using the knowledge of local operatives
with grievances to stoke ethnic rivalries, he said.
He also said the Mombasa Republic Council, an outlawed coastal separatist
group, could be taking part. The group has consistently denied any role in
the killings, but some analysts say it might be regrouping and splinter
groups may have formed. (Additional reporting by Feisal Omar in Mogadishu;
Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Louise Ireland and Drazen Jorgic)