Al-Shabaab militants kill sleeping Kenyan workers in early morning attack

Six people were killed in an attack by al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based Islamic group, in the extreme north-east of Kenya on 5 October.

The attack, on a public works project in the town of Bulla, Mandera County, located near the Somali border, came at 02:45am while workers were asleep. Security officers rescued 27.

Al-Shabaab has vowed to punish Kenya for sending troops into Somalia alongside African Union peacekeepers as part of the Linda Nchi military operation in 2011, and regularly carries out cross-border attacks.

"We have suffered another sad attack," the governor of Mandera County, Ali Roba, was quoted as saying in the Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper. "Out of 33 non-locals residing in one plot, six were shot dead and 27 rescued by our security officers manning the sector. Six lives are too many to lose. We condemn the attack which comes at a time when locals had started enjoying peace."

Al-Shabaab on 6 October claimed responsibility for the attack.

A number of reports have identified the victims as workers on the controversial 700km Kenya-Somalia border fence. IBTimes UK could not independently verify this information.

Outlining plans for the concrete wall, ringed with a barbed-wire electric fence and trenches, the Kenyan government has said the fence would limit cross-border terrorist movements.

There have been reports landmines and concealed explosive devices were laid by the attackers, retarding efforts to retrieve the victims' bodies.