Gunmen killed 17 people and wounded dozens when they opened fire and hurled grenades into two churches in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa on Sunday, the latest in a string of attacks, local police said.

Deputy regional police chief Philip Ndolo said the bloodiest attack was on the African Inland Church in Garissa, a town some 140 kilometers west of the Somali border.

Attackers threw two grenades inside the church, only one of which exploded, Ndolo said. But as worshippers who held Sunday prayer services stampeded out of the church, gunmen opened fire, doing significantly more damage. Seventeen people died and about 37 were wounded at the church, Ndolo said.

The attackers later escaped.

Meanwhile, at a Catholic church in Garissa, an attacker threw a grenade, wounding three people.

"We condemn this act in the strongest of terms," Ndolo said.

Police said that as many as seven men were involved in the attacks, which come two days after gunmen killed a Kenyan driver and abducted four foreign aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp, some 80 km northeast of Garissa.

"We have not arrested any suspects, but we have reports that five suspects were involved in the AIC attack in a combination of grenade and shooting, while two suspects were involved in the Catholic Church attack," said Ndolo.

Witnesses said that bodies lay scattered in the blood-spattered churches as scores of wounded were rushed to hospital.

"It is a terrible scene, you can see bodies lying in the churches," said regional police chief Leo Nyongesa, adding the attackers had wrested guns off police, who have been posted outside churches following previous attacks.

It was not clear who was behind the attacks, but Nairobi has blamed similar attacks on members or supporters of Somalia's al-Qaida linked Shebab insurgents.

Kenya has suffered a spate of grenade attacks, shootings and bomb blasts since sending troops into southern Somalia in October to crush Shebab bases there, prompting warnings of revenge attacks by the Islamist fighters.

The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims condemned the attacks, saying that "all places of worship must be respected".

"We want to send our condolences, and we are sad that no arrests have been made yet," said chairman Abdulghafur El-Busaidy.

Garissa is one of two major Kenyan towns near the border with Somalia. It lies just to the west of the Dadaab refugee camp, which houses nearly 500,000 Somali refugees. On Friday armed attackers kidnapped two men and two women who work with the Norwegian Refugee Council, and who come from Canada, Norway, Pakistan and the Philippines.

But while Kenya's army scoured border areas for a third day, many fear the gunmen and their hostages crossed swiftly into Somalia, only some 100 km from Dadaab where they were seized, the world's largest refugee camp.

Attacks and cross-border raids in the region blamed on the Shebab, including the kidnapping in October of two Spaniards working for Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), were key to Kenya's decision to invade Somalia.

The Shebab still controls large parts of southern Somalia, despite recent losses to African Union troops, government forces and Ethiopian soldiers, who have wrested several key bases from the insurgents.

AFP-AP

(China Daily 07/02/2012 page11)