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Four Killed in Rocket Attack in Kenya

Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a vehicle and killed four people in northern Kenya Thursday, police said.

"The vehicle was carrying eight people but four of them have died," a police officer in the region said on condition of anonymity.

The vehicle, carrying education and security officials ferrying secondary school examination papers, was hit in Elwak region near the Somali border, but it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

Kenyan authorities have tightened security after Somalia's Shebab rebels threatened to attack the country to retaliate Nairobi's military offensive against them in the south of the war-torn country.

"We have received a report of a banditry attack in Mandera district about 110 kilometers from Mandera town involving a vehicle carrying government officials among others," police spokesman Erick Kiraither said in a statement.

Nairobi was this week rocked by two grenade attacks that killed one person and wounded dozens. Kenyan security officials suspect the Shebab, who have not claimed responsibility.

A man arrested following the attacks admitted Wednesday to being a member of the extremist Shebab militia.

He was found with several grenades and rifles at his house in a Nairobi district late on Tuesday.

Source: Agence France Presse


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