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At least five people were beheaded and houses torched in an al Shabaab attack in Salama and Juhudi villages in Mkunumbi, Lamu County on Saturday night.

Witnesses and police said the attackers raided the villages at around 7.30pm, dragged the victims from their houses, tied their hands and legs with ropes before executing them.

According to the police, all the victims were male. A Form Three student at Bakania Secondary School, identified as Barack Hussein, 19, who had just come home for mid-term break, was one of the victims.
Lamu County security teams rushed to the scene moments later but no arrests were made.

County Commissioner Louis Rono said officers had rushed to the scene of the attacks but no suspect had been arrested.

“There was an attack and our officers have been at the scene, however no suspect has been arrested. Detectives have launched investigations,” he said.

Eyewitnesses said a group of over 30 men, armed with guns, machetes and knives who were in military regalia raided the village and ordered those present to lie down and not raise any alarm.

“They led women to different rooms before they later set them free. They then slaughtered the five men,” a survivor said.

In January 2022, armed men also raided the same Salama and Juhudi villages and killed six people and torched more than 10 houses.

The attack happened exactly a week after at least three Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers were killed as they responded to an attack on a General Service Unit team in the same Lamu county.

The KDF troops were responding to an attack where at least 10 other GSU officers were injured when an armoured personnel carrier vehicle they were travelling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Police said the explosive is suspected to have been planted on the road by al-Shabaab militants at Mlima wa Faru, between Pandanguo and Witu in Lamu County.

Landmines
Lamu West Deputy County Commissioner Gabriel Kioni confirmed more than 10 GSU officers were aboard the vehicle and were in their routine patrol within the Pandanguo route which borders the vast Boni forest where a multi-agency security Operation Amani Boni is ongoing.
At least ten other KDF soldiers were also injured in the explosion.
“The APC was first hit by a roadside bomb and when the KDF team responded aboard a Landcruiser they were hit and we have casualties,” a senior government official said.
There have been warnings the terrorists are planning more attacks in the area.
Two weeks ago, the terrorists killed at least 15 security officials in separate attacks in Lamu and Garissa counties.
In one of the attacks, eight KDF troops were also killed in Bodhei at the border of Lamu and Garissa counties after their vehicle ran over a landmine as they were conducting a mobile patrol.
The vehicle they were travelling in ran over a landmine, killing them on the spot.
The same day, another separate attack was also reported near Mararani where suspected members of the al Shabaab group attacked security officers using a rocket propelled grenade.
On July 7, two police officers were also killed after an armoured vehicle they were traveling in was hit by an explosive a near the Kenya-Somalia border.
Seven other officers from the Quick Response Unit sustained multiple injuries in the 6am attack at Qurqura area in Elwak.
More security personnel have been deployed in the area following the persistent recent attacks and reports that the terrorists could be planning a major attack.