16 killed, dozens wounded in Kenya church attacks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Gunmen killed 16 people and wounded dozens when they opened fire and hurled grenades into two churches in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa on Sunday, July 1, officials said, in the latest in a string of attacks.

According to AFP, in apparently coordinated attacks, they burst into churches targeting worshippers as they held Sunday prayer services in Garissa, some 140 kilometers (85 miles) from the border with war-torn Somalia. The attackers later escaped.

"At the AIC (Africa Inland Church) 10 people were shot dead within the church compound, and three were injured in a Catholic Church," said deputy regional police chief Philip Ndolo. "We condemn this act in the strongest of terms."

Kenyan Red Cross chief Abbas Gullet said others died on the way to hospital, taking the number killed to 16. At least 40 others were wounded, 10 of them critically, he added.

Police said up to seven men were involved in the attacks, which come two days after gunmen killed a Kenyan driver and abducted four foreign aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Garissa.

It was not clear who was behind the attacks, but Nairobi has blamed similar attacks on members or supporters of Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents.