Editor's Review

Police say the tragedy could have been orchestrated by a land conflict pitting the squatters and ranch owners. 

The attack that happened in the Widho area in Lamu County and left six people dead has taken a new twist.

This is after it has emerged that those behind the Monday morning attack were not Al-Shabab militias as earlier reported.

Coast Regional Commissioner John Elungata who spoke to the media on the tragedy on Monday evening said Al-Shabab was not behind the killings of the six. 

According to the police boss, the tragedy could have been orchestrated by a land conflict pitting the squatters and ranch owners. 

{Al-Shabaab militia was first blamed for the attack. Image: Courtesy}

Further details indicate that those targeted in the attack were non-locals. 

During the attack, one of the victims was shot dead, another hacked to death. The four others were burnt to death in their house, police and survivors said.

Another report indicates that those killed were targeted since they were well known for aggressively agitating for land rights of the farmers and other issues of importance in the community.

“The attack was done in a way to appear as a terror attack carried out by Al-Shabaab but from the information received from the ground, this is was not the case,” a police officer who spoke to a local publication said.

According to the officers, the attackers could have been hired to carry out the operation in a manner that it appeared it was done by the AL-Shabaab terror group.

This comes even as extra police officers have been deployed in the area to handle the situation as investigations on the incident continue.