Al-Shabab Islamists claim responsibility for Kenya’s deadly bus attack

Somalia’s Shebab Islamists on Saturday claimed responsibility for a deadly bus attack in neighboring Kenya in which gunmen slaughtered 28 non-Muslim passengers, Agence France-Presse reported.

A spokesman for the Islamists said the attack was in revenge for raids that Kenyan security forces carried out over the past week on mosques in the port city of Mombasa.

Earlier, police officials said the militants hijacked a bus in northern Kenya and killed 28 non-Muslims on board, the Associated Press reported.

The two police officers said Saturday that the bus traveling to the capital Nairobi was hijacked 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Mandera town. The officers say the gunmen singled out non-Muslims and shot them dead.

The officers insisted on anonymity out of fear of reprisals because of an order from Kenya's police chief that officers not speak to the media.

Kenya has been hit by a series of gun and bomb attacks blamed on Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants since it sent troops into Somalia in October 2011. Authorities say there have been at least 135 attacks since then, including the Westgate Mall attack in which 67 people were killed.

(With AFP and Associated Press)