A gang of suspected Somali gunmen raided a remote luxury resort in Kenya early Sunday, murdering a British businessman before fleeing in a speedboat with his wife. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@WiL

Kenyan officials said Monday that police and the military were sweeping the area just south of the Somali border in a hunt for Judith Tebbutt, 57, who was vacationing at the Kiwayu Safari Village with her husband, David, London’s The Telegraph reported.

Davide Tebbutt, 58, a publishing executive, was shot dead while attempting to fight off the attackers, the newspaper said.

The Kiwayu Safari Village is one of the most exclusive destinations in Kenya, where A-list guests pay as much as $1,300 a night to stay in one of 18 thatched-roof cottages along a mile stretch of private beach.

It’s less than 30 miles from the Somali border and has been targeted by Somali gunmen before.

Kenyan officials said at least six thugs sped up to the beach on a motorboat shortly after midnight Sunday.

The attackers had no trouble entering the couple’s seaside bungalow because it didn’t have a door, only a colorful piece of cloth hanging in the doorway.

A Kenyan security official told the Associated Press that a policeman at the scene saw six men carrying away the woman, but he didn’t shoot out of fear she could be hurt.

The Tebbutts were the resort’s only guests at the time, having arrived on Saturday afternoon after visiting Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve, Kenyan police said.

They were due to return home to East Hertfordshire next week, the Telegraph reported.

Early reports suggested that the attack may have been carried out by Islamic militants looking to harm Westerners on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But by late Sunday, Kenyan officials began to suspect Somali pirates, who troll the waters off Kenya and Somalia preying on foreigners and commercial ships.

“So far we are treating it as a bandit attack,” Mathew Iteere, the Kenyan police commissioner, told local media. “They may contact us demanding a ransom. Maybe they are from Somalia but we cannot be certain.”

A motive for the attack was not known, but security officials said it was possible that the gang wanted money and targeted the hotel because of its reputation for rich visitors.

Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the attack in a statement and cautioned travelers to avoid areas close to the Somali border.

“We have deployed a consular team from our High Commission in Nairobi and are offering all possible support to the family of those involved,” the statement said.

If Somali pirates are behind the attack, it would represent the first time westerners had been kidnapped on land, rather than at sea, the Telegraph said.

DN