Militants 'ordered women to watch as they killed men who were watching World Cup'

At least 48 people were killed when dozens of Somali extremists wielding automatic weapons attacked a small Kenyan coastal town for hours, assaulting the police station, setting two hotels on fire, and spraying bullets into the street, officials said today.

The assault began at around 8pm local time last night as residents were watching World Cup matches on TV.

The attack met little resistance from the country’s security apparatus, and lasted until early this morning.

Authorities blamed al-Shabab, Somalia’s al Qaida-linked terror group.

Kenya’s top police commander, David Kimaiyo, said the death toll was 48.

Another police commander said that, as residents were watching the World Cup at the Breeze View Hotel, the gunmen pulled the men aside and ordered the women to watch as they killed them.

The attackers told the women that that is what Kenyan troops are doing to Somali men inside Somalia.

A police spokeswoman said authorities believe that several dozen attackers took part.

The assault occurred in the town of Mpeketoni, which is about 30 miles (20km) south-west of the tourist centre of Lamu. Any tourism in Mpeketoni is mostly local, with few foreigners visiting the region.

The town is about 60 miles (100km) from the Somali border. Mpeketoni is about 360 miles (600km) from the capital, Nairobi.

Kenya has experienced a wave of gun and explosives attacks in recent months.

The US, UK, France, Australia and Canada have all recently upgraded their terror threat warnings for the country. US Marines behind sandbag bunkers are now stationed on the roof of the US Embassy in Nairobi.

The Interior Ministry said that at about 8pm yesterday two mini-vans entered the town.

Militants disembarked and began shooting. Kenya’s National Disaster Operations Centre said military surveillance planes were launched shortly afterwards.

The nearby town of Lamu is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is the country’s oldest continually inhabited town.

The region saw a spate of kidnappings of foreign tourists in 2011 that Kenya said was part of its motivation for attacking Somalia. Since those attacks and subsequent terror warnings, tourism has dropped off sharply around Lamu.

Al-Shabab has vowed to carry out terror attacks to avenge the Kenyan military presence in Somalia.

At least 67 people were killed in September when four al-Shabab gunmen attacked an upmarket shopping centre in Nairobi. Kenya sent its troops to Somalia in October 2011.