At least seven people were killed after unidentified gunmen hijacked a passenger bus in Kenya's coastal town of Witu, a government official said Saturday.
The official said that the attack on the bus took place along the Lamu-Malindi highway near Witu, Xinhua reported.
Police officers who were on patrol and rushed to the scene of the crime were ambushed by heavily armed militia and a gunfight ensued.
The victims were all passengers on board the bus.
The attacks came a day after Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) destroyed militant camps in Boni forest.
The police have blamed a series of killings on the secessionist group, the Mombasa Republican Council, which claims that the coastal people's rights to land and property ownership have been violated.