Machete-wielding gang kills five in Kenyan village

By Joseph Akwiri

MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) – Attackers armed with machetes killed at least five people in a village on Kenya's coast close to where gunmen shot down about 65 people last week, officials said on Tuesday.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack on Taa village late on Monday, the latest in a string of assaults that has piled political pressure on the government to secure the country and battered its vital tourism industry.

Militant group al Shabaab, from neighbouring Somalia, said it was behind last week's killings in the Mpeketoni area, though Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed al Shabaab's account and blamed local politicians.

The "attackers used machetes and other crude weapons … the victims have cuts and injuries," Taa village chief Kaviha Charo Karisa told Reuters.

Lamu County commissioner, Stephen Ikua, said an unknown gang raided the village in Witu district and killed five people.

The attacks on Mpeketoni were the worst since al Shabaab gunmen stormed Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in September, leaving 67 people dead.