4 construction workers shot dead in northern Kenya near the border with Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Gunmen shot dead four construction workers at a hospital construction site in northern Kenya near a refugee camp and the border with Somalia, where a militant group is active, police said Saturday.

A group of eight workers were resting on Friday when they were attacked. Four of them were shot at close range, a police official who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue told the Associated Press. The other four workers escaped unharmed, the official said.

The hospital construction site is close to Kenya’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab, and the border with Somalia, where the militant al-Shabab group is based. Garissa district has been attacked in the past by al-Shabab militias crossing the porous border.

According to local police, Friday’s attack may have been carried out by an armed group that had warned the contractor to stay away from the area it considers its territory.

In recent days, there have been acts of violence in northern Kenya in which several people have been killed in various places.

On Wednesday, police discovered an explosive device that was about to detonate at the Mandera border crossing. Last week, two herders were killed by armed men at a watering hole, also in the Mandera area. In April, five people were killed when a donkey cart exploded in the town of Elwak.

The government said security measures had been strengthened in northern Kenya.

The recent attacks forced the government to abandon plans to reopen the 700-kilometer-long border between Kenya and Somalia, which was closed in 2011. However, illegal border crossings remain widespread.

Evelyne Musambi, Associated Press