Before the rebels began singling out and killing the non-Muslims, a Muslim passenger fooled the attackers by saying that a truck full of police officers that was escorting bus was not far behind, said a police official who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to give information to the media.
The lie about the police escort prompted the extremists to order everyone back on the bus and told them to drive off, said the officer. The extremists, ambushed a truck on the same road and asked the driver whether he had seen a truck full of police officers, the officer said. They shot the passenger, a non-Muslim off-duty police officer who had hitchhiked, when he tried to run away, the officer said.
Kenya has experienced a wave of attacks by al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida, since it sent troops to Somalia to fight the extremists in 2011.
Mandera has carried the brunt of the attacks recently. Last week al-Shabab militants carried out three attacks on security forces in Mandera.
Al-Shabab separated non-Muslims from Muslims on a bus on Nov 22, 2014, and killed 28 non-Muslims. That December, 36 non-Muslim quarry workers were killed. In July 14 quarry workers were killed.
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