17 die, 45 hurt in attacks on Kenyan churches

Published on 02/07/2012 00:00

Masked attackers killed at least 17 people yesterday in gun and grenade attacks on churches in a Kenyan town used as a base for operations against al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in Somalia.

At least 45 people were wounded in the simultaneous attacks on Garissa, in the north of the East African country which has suffered a series of blasts since sending troops into Somalia last October to crush Somalia’s al Shabaab militants.

Police said they suspected the attacks could have been the work of al Shabaab sympathisers or bandits, but it was too early to say.

“The goons were clad in balaclavas,” regional deputy police chief Philip Ndolo said from Garissa.

He said a total of seven attackers hurled grenades inside the Catholic Church and the African Inland Church and then opened fire with guns. They struck the churches, which are two miles apart, at around 10am local time.