Kenya attack: al-Shabaab militants kill 10 in second raid near Mpeketoni

The group has warned their operations in Kenya 'will continue'

A man walks near a pool of blood at an entrance of a building in the small coastal town of Mpeketoni near Lamu, Kenya, 16 June 2014. (EPA)

Militants from al-Shabaab have claimed responsibility for a second attack on Kenya's coast that killed at least 10, just a day after an assault on the nearby town of Mpeketoni left almost 50 dead, officials and the fighters said on Tuesday.

Armed gunmen raided the village of Poromoko close to Mpeketoni overnight and set fire to houses, Deputy County Commissioner Benson Maisori said.

The attacks come a day after least 49 people were killed when gunmen sped into the small coastal town of Mpeketoni in two minibuses, and shot World Cup spectators in a hall, as well as attacking hotels, a bank, and the police station.

Sunday's assault was the worst by al-Shabaab since its gunmen stormed Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in September in an attack that left 67 people dead.

The group claimed the attack was revenge for the presence of Kenyan forces in Somalia.

"We raided villages around Mpeketoni again last night," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations told the Reuters news agency. “Our operations in Kenya will continue."

After the Mpeketoni assault, the movement declared Kenya a "war zone", instructing tourists to leave the country or stay "at their own peril".

Several men were shot in the head in the town in execution-style killings, witnesses said.

Al-Shabaab said gunmen killed up to 20 people, and claimed several police officers had died in the latest wave of fighting.

A reporter for Kenya's Citizen Television said locals had complained the force had not sent in enough officers to protect them even after the initial assault on Mpeketoni, which lies on the coast between Kenya's main port Mombasa and the Somali border to the north.

Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku, who has defended his government's efforts to protect the nation, travelled to the area on Monday and was assigned by President Uhuru Kenyatta to take personal charge of the security operation.

The Red Cross had previously put the death toll for Mpeketoni assault at 50 but on Tuesday said the total figure was 49. That number did not include victims of the latest attack.

Additional reporting by Reuters