Al Shabaab Gunmen Kill 14, Injure 11 in Kenya Attack

Al Shabaab gunmen have killed at least 14 people and injured several others in an attack on a residential complex in Mandera County, northeast Kenya, by the country's border with Somalia.

The raid occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, when a group of militants, using hand grenades and firearms, attacked the complex, which according to a statement by Kenya Red Cross, was occupied by quarry workers and local construction workers. At least 14 people died in the attack, and 11 were taken to receive treatment.

Attack reported in Mandera Town near Livestock market @0216hrs. — Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross)July 7, 2015

— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross)July 7, 2015

This is not the first time that al Shabaab has targeted the area. In December 2014, militants killed 36 non-Muslim quarry workers near Mandera, a week after gunmen from the Islamist group ordered non-Muslims off a bus, shooting 28 dead also outside Mandera.

Speaking to Reuters in the wake of Tuesday's raid, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, military operations spokesman of the Somali Islamist group, said: "We are behind the Mandera attack. We killed over 10 Kenyan Christians."

He continued: "This is part of our ongoing operations against Kenya."

In October 2011, Kenya sent troops into Somalia in response to several al Shabaab suspected kidnappings. The group denied the accusations and vowed war against the country: "We will defend ourselves. Kenya doesn't know war. We know war. The tall buildings in Nairobi will be destroyed" said its spokesman Ali Mohamud Ruge, speaking to the BBC.

"We have fought against governments older and stronger than Kenya and we have defeated them."

Since sending its troops into the country, and joining the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping force, Kenya has seen numerous attacks on its soil by al Shabaab.

Related: Al Shabaab Ambushes Kenyan Police Officers Near Somali Border

In October 2013, more than 60 people were killed when al Shabaab launched a brutal assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping center, and the militant group also claimed responsibility for killing almost 150 people at Garissa University College in northern Kenya in April 2015, where according to witnesses, Christian students were singled out and shot.

In retaliation, Kenya launched air strikes on al Shabaab bases in Somalia, targeting two camps in the Gedo region.