LAMU, Kenya, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and another injured when Al-Shabaab militants ambushed a commuter bus in Kenya's Lamu County on Wednesday, a government official said.
Lamu County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said the ambush which took place at Nyongoro area along Lamu-Garsen highway saw one person escape with gunshot wounds.
"The attackers fired at the bus from bushes before police escorts came to their rescue, forcing them to retreat," Kanyiri told Xinhua by telephone.
The government administrator said the injured passengers were rushed to Witu hospital, noting that the commuter bus was heading to Kipini from Mombasa when it was ambushed at around 3.30 p.m.
Kanyiri said joint security forces are pursuing the militants, noting that security agents are on higher alert over possible terror attack during the general election.
The insurgents shot indiscriminately from the vast Boni forest which they have been using as their hideout, before police escorting the vehicle came to the passengers' rescue.
The latest incident came after the government had warned passenger buses against plying the Lamu highway without police escort.
Due to increased Al-Shabaab attacks on passenger vehicles and within Lamu County between 2014 and 2015, the government ordered that all vehicles entering and leaving the county get police escorts.
Last week, regional government official Nelson Marwa said all public and private vehicles, including school and church buses, must undergo police checks at checkpoints on the road and travel under armed escort.
"We must have a structured way in which vehicles operate along the Lamu-Mombasa road. As you are aware, no vehicle should leave Lamu without police escort. We have our police checks on the road and vehicles must also undergo all these security checks," Marwa said on July 28.
"We have thousands of vehicles operating on the Lamu-Mombasa road and we can't have police officers on every vehicle. That is why we came up with the issue of a convoy being escorted by our security officers. Everyone must adhere to this," Marwa said.
He said the region had undertaken elaborate security measures to ensure the area remained safe during the festive season when thousands flock to the sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean for holiday.
The coastal region has been a target of terror attacks in the past, often staged by Al-Shabaab terrorists who waged a war against Kenya soon after it deployed its military to the war-ravaged country in October 2011.
