"President Uhuru Kenyatta has blamed 'local political networks' for the overnight raid on two villages near the town of Mpeketoni. But Somalia's al-Shabab group had earlier said it was behind the attack. At least 49 people died in a separate raid on hotels and a police station in Mpeketoni on Sunday. Al-Shabab said it was revenge for the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia and the killing of Muslims. Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to help the weak UN-backed government defeat the militants. Two days after the deadly wave of violence in Mpeketoni, Kenyans are still unclear who is responsible. If it was al-Shabab, the targeting of villages, not towns, and the killing of men only, while abducting women, would be new tactics. By sparing women and children, they could be trying to sanitise their image after even their own supporters criticised them for the indiscriminate killings during the Westgate siege last year..."