Militants behead three Kenyans, burn houses in overnight attacks

 Suspected Somali Islamist militant group, Al-Shabaab, beheaded three people and torched several houses in the latest overnight attacks in Kenya’s coastal region of Lamu. Kenyan Coast Regional Police Commander Larry Kieng confirmed the attack at Maleli on Friday, saying security officers are pursuing the attackers. “We have launched investigation into the attack at Maleli village by suspected Al-Shabaab militants, who also torched several houses,” Kieng told Xinhua by telephone. Several areas in northeastern Kenya that border Somalia have been the target of Al-Shabaab terrorists who have killed innocent citizens since Kenyan soldiers entered Somalia in 2011 to secure the two countries’ shared border. NAN reports that on July 9, suspected al-shabaab fighters beheaded nine men in an overnight assault on a village in the Kenyan coastal district of Lamu, days after the armed group killed three police officers in an attack on a nearby village. A witness, who asked not to be named, confirmed the death toll to Reuters news agency. “They raided Jima and Pandanguo villages and killed nine men. They were slaughtered like chickens, using knives,” said the witness. Kenya’s Interior Ministry announced that curfew was imposed in three districts following the attack. The ministry said in a tweet that the 12-hour curfew, from 6:30pm (1530 GMT), affects parts of Lamu, Garissa and Tana River and is to be in place for the next three months.