7 killed in Kenyan separatist attack

MALINDI, Kenya, March 28 (UPI) -- Seven people died, including one police officer, when separatists attacked a casino in Kenya's coastal town of Malindi, police said.

Members of the Mombasa Republican Council attacked two police officers patrolling near the Malindi Casino Wednesday, Africa Review reported.

Multiple sources told the Nairobi-based website powered by the Nation Media Group there were about 50 raiders. They allegedly attacked the officers in order to obtain their firearms for a planned attack on the Malindi Divisional Police Station.

"They attacked the two policemen and hacked one of them to death. However the officer managed to shoot at them several times, killing a number before was overpowered," a senior police officer said.

The gunfire alerted other officers to the scene where a gunfight ensued. Six of the raiders were killed.

The Mombasa Republican Council campaigns for the "oppressed" people in the country's coastal region and for Muslims who say they face discrimination.

"The objective of our movement is to lift the coastal people from the neo-colonialism of the government of Kenya," Randu Ruwa, the MRC's secretary general, told the BBC earlier this month.