SIX worshippers were killed and more than a dozen were wounded when gunmen stormed a church near the Kenyan port of Mombasa last Sunday.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the raid on the Joy in Jesus Church, in the district of Likoni, but Kenyan security officials said that it had the hallmarks of the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab.

It has carried out several attacks in Kenya since Kenya sent troops into neighbouring Somalia to suppress terrorism in 2011. Most notorious was the assault last year on the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in which 67 people died (News, Comment, 27 September 2013).

Children are believed to be among the wounded in Sunday's attack. A two-year-old boy whose mother was killed has a bullet lodged in his skull.

The gunmen escaped on foot, and were deterred from attacking another church only by the arrival of police. One eyewitness, Peter Muasya, said: "They walked casually, as if all was OK. Then they started shooting at those of us who were standing outside."

Lilian Omondi, who was leading prayers at the time, said: "Both carried big guns, and began shooting all over the place. I fell to the ground, and could hear screams." Blood-soaked Bibles and overturned chairs lay strewnacross the church floor afterwards.

The police chief in Likoni, Robert Mureithi, told reporters: "The attackers appeared focused on killing."

Security has been stepped up in the area since the arrest last week of two men, who, police said, had bombs hidden in their car. The Interior Cabinet Secretary, Joseph Ole Lenku, said that officers "are doing everything possible to fight crime and terrorism".

The Middle East regional manager of International Christian Concern, Todd Daniels, said: "The ruthless attack on a church, as men, women, and children were gathered simply to worship God, reveals the hatefulness and emptiness of the ideology that motivates these terrorist groups".

A prominent Muslim cleric in Mombasa, Sheikh Juma Ngao, stated: "The attackers have not done this on behalf of any religion or right-thinking group. If they are hoping to drive a wedge between religious groups in this region, then they are greatly mistaken."