At least 36 people were killed in an attack by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants in northeastern Kenya, the second such incident in 10 days, a police official said.
Gunmen raided a camp at a quarry in Kormey near Mandera, about 800km (497 miles) northeast of the capital, Nairobi, at about 2am on Tuesday, Noah Mwivanda, a police commander in Mandera county.
The attack bore the hallmarks of an attack last week on a bus travelling from Mandera in which 28 people were shot dead, he said.
“It’s of the same nature because it targeted non-Muslims and non-local” residents, he said.
Kenya has faced increasing attacks by Islamist militants since sending its troops into neighbouring Somalia in October 2011 to fight al-Shabaab, which has waged an insurgency against that country's government since 2006.
It claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus in which non-Muslim passengers were separated from others travellers and then made to lie down on the road before being shot.
In the latest incident, the gunmen surrounded the quarry camp and fired in the air before ordering everyone to lie down, Mr Mwivanda said. The assailants then started shooting at people, while some victims were beheaded, he said.
Security forces have sealed off the border in case the attackers try to flee to Somalia, while aerial surveillance is being carried out, Mr Mwivanda said. Bloomberg