Image caption Those killed were staying in this guest house

At least 12 people have been killed in an attack in Kenya claimed by Somalia-based militant Islamist group al-Shabab.

The target was a guesthouse hosting members of a theatre group who were performing plays in schools in the north-eastern town of Mandera.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has called the attack "heinous".

In Somalia, the militants exploded a truck bomb near an African Union military base.

There has been a spate of deadly attacks targeting Christians in the mainly Muslim region around Mandera.

Reports say that the 10-member theatre group was composed of university students who had travelled to the town to perform plays in local schools.

Two members of the little known theatre travelling group, Pearls Quality Edutainment, were killed.

The others were among among 10 people rescued after the dawn attack.

Mr Kenyatta has called off an official visit to Angola "in solidarity with the victims' families", a State House statement says.

He said "several Kenyans had been murdered in a terrorist attack" and called for religious tolerance, adding that "Kenyans will not be divided in religious lines".

While he appeared to blame al-Shabab, Mohammud Saleh, the north-eastern regional coordinator said "local criminal gangs were behind the attack".

Al-Shabab said it had carried out the attack in an affiliated radio station saying it had killed "15 Kenyans".

Earlier this month, al-Shabab militants killed six people in an attack the group said was aimed at forcing Christians out of the area.

Mandera borders Somalia, making it vulnerable to attacks from militants based there.

Many of the Christians in the area are skilled workers from other parts of Kenya, making a vital contribution to local hospitals and schools.

Actors attacked for the fourth time: By Abdinoor Aden, BBC Africa

This was the fourth attempted attack on Pearls Quality Edutainment actors who had been in Mandera town for three weeks performing plays in secondary schools.

Daud Otieno, the group's producer who survived the attack, told the BBC that the gunmen raided the hotel early on Tuesday morning, shouting "actors, actors" while firing at the rooms.

Eight cast members who stayed in the hotel, which has a capacity of 20 people, survived.

The actors were on their final day before the gunmen struck.

"We have been receiving threats and we have experienced attacks wherever we stayed before they finally got us," said Mr Otieno.

He said the gunmen spoke in Somali and fired at them repeatedly and some of them hid in the toilets as the gunmen fired at them and set off explosions.

Somalia attack

The African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) has said on its Twitter account that 10 attackers were involved in the attack on a base with Djiboutian troops in the central city of Beledweyne.

Amisom also said that 10 attackers involved in the attack had been killed and that the situation had been brought "under control".

It did not mention its own casualty figures.

An al-Shabab spokesman has told the Reuters news agency that it had killed 17 Amisom troops in the attack but this has not been confirmed.

Al-Shabab is affiliated to al-Qaeda and has been at war with Kenya ever since Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October 2011 in an effort to crush them.

Kenyan troops are now part of the African Union mission in Somalia.

The militants have lost control of most Somali towns and cities in recent years but still control rural areas in southern and central Somalia.</s>NAIROBI (Reuters) - Attackers blew up part of a hotel in northeastern Kenya, killing at least 12 people on Tuesday, in a raid claimed by al Shabaab militants from neighboring Somalia.

The group said it had set out to kill non-Muslims in Kenya’s Mandera area - the scene of numerous assaults by the fighters seeking to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government and punish Kenya for sending in soldiers to oppose it.

Rescuers pulled at least six survivors from the rubble and were searching for more, North Eastern Regional Commissioner Mohamoud Saleh said in a statement that did not name the attackers.

Twelve people died in the attack, he said. “The Government of Kenya condemns this act of terror and condoles with families and friends of the bereaved,” he added.

Al Shabaab’s spokesman for military operation, Abdiasis Abu Musab, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the gunmen had targeted non-Muslims and killed 15 people.

“I counted nine bodies being removed from the building by colleagues, those dead could be more. Most of them had what looked like gun shot wounds and for others it seems rubble from the building had collapsed on them,” said a police officer at the scene, who asked not to be named.

The attack took place hours after fighters from the group shot dead an intelligence officer in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. [nL8N1CV0VV]

Slideshow (5 Images)

“We have received some six people with injuries from the scene of the attack. Some have really lost blood, two are unconscious. We also received bodies of the dead but I was in the casualty wing and could not count how many they were,” a nurse from Mandera County hospital told Reuters.

Al Shabaab killed six people as a work site in Mandera area earlier in October.[nL5N1CC0ED]

It has also struck deeper into Kenya, killing at least 67 people in an attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013.</s>Nairobi

 A bomb blast at a guesthouse in northeast Kenya killed at least 12 people today, in an attack claimed by Shabaab militants which last hit the area earlier this month. “We have found 12 bodies so far after we managed to access the building,” a senior police officer said.

 “We are still combing the area with the help of anti-terrorism police and sniffer dogs in the ongoing search and rescue.”

 Eleven men and one woman were killed in the 3:30 am (local time) blast at the Bisharo lodge, a police source said. The toll was confirmed in a government statement that said part of the building was collapsed by the blast.

 The Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab militant group claimed the attack in a message broadcast by its Radio Andalus media organisation, claiming 15 were killed. “This attack is part of a series of attacks in which the Mujahideen are hunting down infidels” in northeast Kenya, the group said.

 It is the second Shabaab strike in Mandera in three weeks. The previous one on October 6 killed six people at a gated residential building that mainly housed non-ethnic Somalis and non-Muslims, less than a kilometre from the volatile Somalia border town of Beled Hawa.

 Mandera governor Ali Roba said the raids were designed to divide communities and destroy the economy. “This is an attack that is aimed at making sure we don’t attract investors, we do not attract a professional workforce, we do not have interaction with the rest of the country.”

 Northeastern regional security boss Mohamoud Saleh said he suspected “local criminal gangs” of complicity since border security had been stepped up after the October 6 attack.

 Another security source who did not want to be named told AFP local politics might also be involved, with some seeking to trigger a declaration of a state of emergency that would prevent elections taking place as scheduled next year.

 “There is serious political tension in the county,” the source said.

 The Shabaab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamic insurgents.

 Since then the militants have targeted civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a dramatic assault on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013 in which at least 67 people were killed.</s>Twelve people have been killed in an overnight attack at Bishaaro Hotel in Mandera Town, northeast Kenya, by suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen, police confirmed on Tuesday.

Mandera East police boss Ezekiel Singoe said the 12 included 10 who were visiting for set-book performances at secondary schools in the county.

He said the 10 had arrived in Mandera on Monday to stage plays for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam candidates.

The police boss said they were still identifying the bodies.

The attackers used improvised explosive devices to break the metallic doors at the lodge before shooting the 12 dead in their rooms. They included eleven men and one woman.

Each room in the hotel accommodated four to six people.

It is the second Shabaab strike in Mandera in three weeks. The previous one on October 6 killed six people at a gated residential building that mainly housed non-ethnic Somalis and non-Muslims, less than a kilometre from the volatile Somalia border town of Beled Hawa.

Mandera governor Ali Roba said the raids were designed to divide communities and destroy the economy.

"This is an attack that is aimed at making sure we don't attract investors, we do not attract a professional workforce, we do not have interaction with the rest of the country," Roba told a press conference on Tuesday morning.

Northeastern regional security boss Mohamoud Saleh said he suspected "local criminal gangs" of complicity since border security had been stepped up after the October 6 attack.

Mandera County police commander Job Boronjo on Tuesday morning confirmed the attack but said police were yet to get more details about deaths or injuries as it was still dark in the area.

"We are monitoring the situation. My officers are on the ground. We will give the details when the day breaks," Mr Boronjo said from Garissa, where he was attending an official meeting.</s>Nairobi (AFP) - A bomb blast at a guesthouse in northeast Kenya killed at least 12 people on Tuesday, the same area hit earlier this month by Shabaab militants, police said.

"We have found 12 bodies so far after we managed to access the building," one senior police officer told AFP.

"We are still combing the area with the help of anti-terrorism police and sniffer dogs in the ongoing search and rescue."

A local police chief, Job Boronjo, in Mandera County also confirmed the toll in Kenyan media.

Eleven men and one woman were killed in the 3:30 am (0030 GMT) blast at the Bishar Guesthouse, a police source told AFP.

This is the second attack in Mandera in under a month -- the previous one on October 6 was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group.

Six people were killed in that strike, which targeted a gated residential building that mainly housed non-ethnic Somalis and non-Muslims, less than a kilometre from the volatile Somalia border town of Beled Hawa.

The Shabaab has fought to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007, but turned its sights on Kenya when the army was sent into Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamic insurgents.

Since then the militants have targeted civilians in different parts of Kenya, including a dramatic assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in 2013 in which at least 67 people were killed.</s>Nairobi. Twelve people have been killed in an overnight attack at Bishaaro Hotel in Mandera Town by suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen, police confirmed on Tuesday.

Mandera East police boss (OCPD) Ezekiel Singoe said the 12 included 10 who were visiting for set-book performances at schools in the county.

He said the 10 had arrived in Mandera on Monday to stage plays for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam candidates.

The police boss said they were still identifying the bodies.

The attackers used improvised explosive devices to break the metallic doors at the lodge before shooting the 12 dead in their rooms.

Each room in the hotel accommodated four to six people.

Mandera County Police Commander Job Boronjo on Tuesday morning confirmed the attack but said police were yet to get more details about deaths or injuries as it was still dark in the area.

"We are monitoring the situation. My officers are on the ground. We will give the details when the day breaks," Mr Boronjo said from Garissa, where he was attending an official meeting.

Asked about the exact place of the attack, Mr Boronjo said by phone: "Lets not go into details for now please. Lets wait for update as the day breaks."</s>The target was the Boshari Hotel in the town of Mandera, on the border with Ethiopia and Somalia, and all of the people killed were foreigners.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials said they believe the jihadist group Al-Shabaab was responsible.

The group has been behind some of the worst violence in recent years in and around Somalia.

This attack is very similar to other recent attacks in the region that targeted foreigners and is the third such attack in less than a month. Edwin Kuria, a Mandera senior administrator, said the attackers used a hand grenade and an improvised explosive device to open the security gate. They forced their way into the hotel and opened fire on people inside. Eyewitnesses say there were approximately eight to 10 attackers. Security services took one hour to get arrive to the scene, which is in the center of the town.</s>Twelve people have been confirmed dead following a bomb attack early Tuesday morning on Boshari Hotel in Mandera Town by suspected Al-Shabaab militants.

North Eastern regional commissioner Mohamoud Saleh said that an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded at 3.30 am at the hotel, causing part of the building to collapse and killing at least 12 people.

He said all occupants at the hotel had been evacuated with six people rescued alive from the debris by 10 am. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.

“Preliminary investigations into the attack have so far yielded several leads for the police and investigations are underway,” said Mr Saleh in a statement.</s>Mohamed Saleh, Mandera’s regional commander, said Tuesday that gunmen from Somali-based extremist group al-Shabab are suspected of carrying out the attack on the Bisharo Guest House.

A Kenyan official says 12 people were killed in an extremist attack targeting non-Muslims in Mandera County near the Somali border.

Mohamed Saleh, Mandera’s regional commander, said Tuesday that gunmen from Somali-based extremist group al-Shabab are suspected of carrying out the attack on the Bisharo Guest House.

Al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia since 2011 to fight the militants who are waging an insurgency against Somalia’s weak, Western-backed government. Kenyan security forces have managed to stop the wave al-Shabab’s attacks in major cities in Kenya that have killed hundreds.</s>Gunmen from an extremist group killed 12 people in an attack targeting non-Muslims in Kenya's northern Mandera County, near the Somali border, an official said Tuesday.

Somali-based extremist group al-Shabab is suspected of carrying out the early-morning attack on the Bishaaro Guest House, said Mohamed Saleh, Mandera's regional commander.

The gunmen used grenades and improvised explosive devices to break into the guest house and then stormed in with guns, he said.

Al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia since 2011 to fight the militants, who are waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak, Western-backed government. Kenyan security forces have managed to stop the wave of al-Shabab attacks in major cities in Kenya that have killed hundreds.

However, Mandera County remains a volatile area. Al-Shabab militants hijacked a bus in Mandera in November 2014 and killed 28 non-Muslims on board. In December 2014 they killed 36 quarry workers. This year six people had previously been killed, in July when gunmen shot at buses and on Oct. 6, when al-Shabab gunmen targeted a residential compound full of non-Muslims.

The campaign of attacks targeting non-Muslims has had a devastating impact on education. Many non-Muslim teachers have asked to be transferred from the region, causing a crisis in learning as they form the backbone of the teaching community.
At least 12 are killed in an attack on a hotel in Kenya. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility.