A man stands amid the debris at the scene of an attack in the town of Mandera, Kenya.

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No claim of responsibility but Al-Shabaab is suspected

The location is near Ethiopia and Somalia

Mandera, Kenya CNN  — 

An attack on a hotel in northern Kenya on Tuesday left 12 people dead and four others wounded, a Kenyan government official said.

The target was the Boshari Hotel in the town of Mandera, on the border with Ethiopia and Somalia, and all of the people killed were non-locals.

The Boshari Hotel in Mandera was targeted in the attack.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials said they believe the jihadist group Al-Shabaab was responsible.

The group has been behind some of the worst violence in recent years in and around Somalia.

Non-locals killed

Similar attacks have taken place in the recent weeks.

This attack is very similar to other recent attacks in the region that targeted non-locals and is the third such attack in less than a month.

Edwin Kuria, a Mandera senior administrator, said the attackers used a hand grenade and an improvised explosive device to open the security gate.

They forced their way into the hotel and opened fire on people inside. Eyewitnesses say there were approximately eight to 10 attackers.

Security services took one hour to get arrive to the scene, which is in the center of the town.