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Kenya: Interior Secretary and Police Chief resign in wake of terrorist attacks
Kenya’s president announced a security shakeup Tuesday, accepting the resignations of both the Interior Secretary and the national police chief, in the wake of a series of deadly attacks by al-Shabaab Islamist extremists from neighboring Somalia.
President Uhuru Kenyatta named an opposition politician and retired army general, Joseph Nkaissery, to be the new Interior Secretary, in charge of security, while police chief David Kimaiyo said he resigned for personal reasons.
Public pressure has been mounting for the two officials to resign following a string of extremist attacks in the country’s north east.
The changes come after elements of the al-Shabaab from Somalia killed 36 quarry workers in northern Kenya early Tuesday, targeting non-Muslims. The killings happened in Mandera County near the border with Somalia.
The group al-Shabaab, which has been battling for years to establish hard-line Islamic rule in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the killings.
According to an eye witness, Peter Nderitu, a group of about 50 heavily armed people walked into the camp next to the quarry at 16:30 EST, the gunmen singled out non-Muslims and killed them.
Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the latest attack was a response to Kenya’s troop presence in Somalia and a recent airstrike. The Kenyan government said the airstrike was in response to a November 22 al-Shabaab attack on bus passengers in the same region that left 28 people dead. In that attack, the non-Muslims were also separated from other passengers and shot dead.
