Suspected al-Shabaab gunmen kill 6 in northern Kenya

A Kenyan official says suspected al-Shabaab gunmen killed at least six people when they shot at two buses travelling in Mandera County in northern Kenya.

North Eastern Regional Security Co-ordinator Mohammed Saleh said Friday several people were wounded in the attack as the buses headed toward Mandera town at 10 a.m. local time. The buses were carrying passengers from the capital, Nairobi.

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Last week five police officers were killed in the same area in an attack blamed on the Somalia-based al-ShabaAb extremist group. Al-Shabaab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops in Somalia since 2011 to fight the militants who are waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak Western-backed government.

The Kenyan government said it had deployed its troops because of cross-border attacks by al-Shabaab and the kidnapping of four Europeans.