Suspected al-Shabab militants kill 4 in Kenya

Four civilians have been killed in an attempted attack suspected to have been carried out by al-Qaeda’s Somalia-based affiliate in neighboring Kenya.

Kenyan police said suspected al-Shabab militants attempted to destroy a telecommunications mast in the town of Saretho, 25 kilometers from the Dadaab Refugee Camp, in Kenya on Tuesday.

Officers manning the mast and special forces were able to repel them, police said.

A teacher and a child were among those killed in the attack, according to police. It was not clear who the other two civilian casualties were.

Two of the assailants were also killed by police, police spokesman Charles Owino said, adding that two assault rifles and bomb-making materials were seized.

The attack comes after the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a camp in coastal Lamu County, used by US troops, which claimed the lives of three Americans on Sunday.

The al-Qaeda-linked militants have been involved in militancy in neighboring Somalia for more than a decade.

In 2011, the terrorist group was pushed out of Somalia’s capital city with the help of African Union forces.

However, al-Shabab still carries out deadly terrorist attacks against government, military, and civilian targets in the capital, as well as regional towns.