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Eight people killed in Kenya's northeast in suspected al Shabaab attack

Reuters

NAIROBI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - ‌Eight people – two police reservists, five construction workers and ​a driver – ‌were killed in northeast Kenya on ‌Tuesday in an attack by suspected al Shabaab militants near ‌the Somali border, police and a senior regional official said.

• A report from a local police station said the ⁠ambush happened about 7 a.m. (0400 ‌GMT) in Mandera county ⁠in the northeast, in an area ​where a road is being built

• Regional official John Odhiambo Otieno ​said the armed assailants were ​believed ‌to have crossed the nearby border ​from Somalia

• Investigations were under ⁠way to identify the ‌attackers, Otieno ​added

• Al Shabaab, ​which controls large swathes of Somalia, frequently carries out cross-border attacks on Kenyan military and civilian targets

• Security ‌analysts say the assaults are aimed at pressuring Kenya into withdrawing ‌its ​troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia

(Reporting by Noor Ali and Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Elias Biryabarema and Vincent Mumo ‌Nzilani; Editing by Alexander Winning)