Gunmen Ambush Bus, Kill 28 Passengers in Kenya

Suspected Islamic extremists from Somalia hijacked a bus in Kenya's north and killed 28 non-Muslims on board, police officials said today. The bus traveling to the capital Nairobi with 60 passengers was hijacked at dawn 30 miles from the town of Mandera near Kenya's border with Somalia. About 20 gunmen ordered all the passengers out of the bus and separated those who appeared to be non-Muslims from the rest and shot them at close range, the officers said. The attack is suspected to have been carried out by al-Shabab militant rebels.

Some of the dead were public servants who were heading to Nairobi for Christmas vacation, the officers said. The gunmen picked their victims after making passengers read from the Koran, reports the BBC. Kenya has been hit by a series of gun and bomb attacks blamed on al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, since it sent troops into Somalia in October 2011. Authorities say there have been at least 135 attacks by al-Shabab since then, including the assault on Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall in September 2013 in which 67 people were killed. (More Kenya stories.)