LAMU, Kenya, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Suspected Al-Shabaab militants killed three people and torched houses in the latest overnight attacks in Kenya's coastal region of Lamu County.
Kenyan Coast Regional Police Commander Larry Kieng confirmed the attack in Maleli village near Witu town on Friday, saying the security officers are pursuing the attackers.
Kieng said the attackers torched three houses in the same village. He said more security officers have been dispatched to the area to pursue the insurgents who have been attacking villages and ambushing travelers along the roads in the region.
"We have launched investigations into the attack at Maleli village by suspected Al-Shabaab militants who also torched several houses," Kieng told Xinhua by telephone.
He said Al-Shabaab has remained a major security threat in Lamu County, adding that its fighters have been using the vast Boni Forest to wage terrorist attacks on the locals.
"The militants attacked and butchered the locals. The victims were beheaded after being dragged from their houses at night," Kieng said.
The forest is used as a recruitment and training ground for Al-Shabaab members. The government has enhanced security in the restive county following frequent attacks by the Islamist militants
Lamu County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said he has reports that Al-Shabaab was soon planning attacks on the routes. Kanyiri said security officers thwarted attempts by the group to disrupt the just concluded general election.
"We intensified patrols and deployed more officers strategically in areas mapped as potential hotspots and prevented attacks during the polls," Kanyiri said and appealed to locals to share information with security agents.
The government last week banned passenger vehicles on the Lamu-Garsen highway due to security concerns.
The police have said the explosive devices strategically planted along the roads near the Kenyan-Somali border are slowing down security operations to flush out militants hiding in the vast Boni Forest which is near the border.
Several areas in northeastern Kenya that border Somalia have been the target of Al-Shabaab terrorists who have killed innocent citizens since Kenyan soldiers entered Somalia in 2011 to secure the two countries' shared border.
