Kenyan authorities have denied media reports that at least 12 women were abducted by gunmen following a Tuesday night attack on a village near the town of Mpeketoni.
"No women were kidnapped in Poromoko," Police Inspector-General David KImaiyo told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
"As far as I know, no one has reported to us about any missing women. The reports were incorrect," he said.
Several local and international media outlets reported that militants had abducted the women after attacking their village, located some 9km from Mpeketoni, and killing at least ten people on Tuesday.
The Kenya Red Cross (KRC), the government agency tasked with providing medical and psychological assistance and tracing missing persons, also denied the reported abductions.
"We had a total of 59 people reported missing according to our list Wednesday," KRC Secretary-General Abbas Gullet told AA.
"All but seven have been identified," he said. "We have not had any family reporting missing women."
According to Gullet, all those killed in the village attack were men – except for one woman who succumbed to burn injuries.
The village attack came as Kenya was still recovering from news that at least 53 people had been killed in Sunday night attacks on a local police station and three hotels in Mpeketoni.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday exonerated the Al-Shabaab militant group of the recent attacks, blaming them instead on local politicians and vowing to prosecute security officials for ignoring earlier warnings.
Mpeketoni is a mainly Christian town in the predominantly Muslim county of Lamu.
Most local residents are ethnic Kikuyus, Kenya's largest ethnic group.
By Yassin Juma
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
