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KENYAN police arrested eight suspects yesterday in connection with an attack in the port city of Mombasa at the weekend that killed four people, a senior police officer said.Witnesses said gunmen went on a shooting rampage and scattered leaflets saying the attack was retribution for last month’s raid on Mpeketoni, a town about 300km north of Mombasa along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline.

There have been a string of attacks along  Kenya’s coast, most of them claimed by the  Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, such as the                 Mpeketoni raid in mid-June. Analysts say a mix of local grievances and Islamist militancy have fuelled violence.

“We launched a manhunt for the suspects involved, because we had some information about them, and we have so far managed to arrest eight and are closing up on more,” Robert Kitur, Mombasa County Police Commander, told journalists.

He blamed the suspects for scattering the  leaflets but dismissed the idea that the assault was a revenge attack, saying it was aimed at showing discord on the already volatile coast. — Reuters.