DHAKA: A group of Kenyan Muslims travelling on a bus ambushed by Islamist gunmen protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses.

A local governor told Kenyan media that they told the militants “to kill them together or leave them alone”.

At least two people were killed in the attack, near the north-eastern village of El Wak on the Somali border, reports the BBC.

The Somali based al-Shabab group says it carried out the attack.

The bus was travelling from the capital Nairobi to the town of Mandera.

When al-Shabab killed 148 people in an attack on Garissa University College in April, the militants reportedly singled out Christians and shot them, while freeing many Muslims.

Last year, a bus was attacked near Mandera by al-Shabab militants, who killed 28 non-Muslims travelling to Nairobi for the Christmas holidays.

BDST: 0840 HRS, DEC 22, 2015
SR