Nairobi, May 9 -- On Saturday morning, a group of twelve relatives hired a matatu in Mandera town to take them to Arabia Township, near the Kenya-Somalia border. They were unaware of what lay ahead.

Their two-hour journey was cut short when a lone gunman emerged from the bushes and opened fire on their vehicle, instantly killing six people and seriously injuring three others.

"We had a reported incident of an ambush on a private vehicle ferrying a family to Arabia town for a religious function. Survivors told us that they were shot at by a lone gunman who emerged from the bushes," Mandera County Police Commander Robinson Ndiwa told the Nation.

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He added that the driver and three other ...