Kenyan military: 11 al-Shabab militants killed in botched attack

BAURE, Kenya, June 14 (UPI) -- Kenya's armed forces on Sunday claimed to have killed nearly a dozen Somali Islamic militants who attacked a military base near the country's northern coast.

The early-morning attack occurred in Baure, in Kenya's Lamu County, 24 miles north of Bargoni.

The Kenyan Defense Force says it killed 11 al-Shabab militants and lost two of its own soldiers in the encounter, with another six wounded. Two of the dead militants were Caucasian, according to reports.

KDF spokesman David Obonyo told Kenyan media that the area was "still too dangerous" but noted soldiers and police recovered 13 AK-47s, five rocket-propelled grenades, eight hand grenades, 49 AK-47 magazines, 2,244 rounds of ammunition and al-Shabab flags.

The Standard cited unnamed intelligence sources who said the two white militants could be from Britain.

Kenya in 2011 deployed military forces to Somalia to battle the al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group. Since then, al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a multitude of attacks in Kenya's coastal and northeastern region, including in April when four masked al-Shabab gunmen killed nearly 150 people at Garissa University College.