Attack on U.S. vehicle kills 2

NAIROBI, KENYA —  Gunmen hijacked a U.S. Embassy vehicle Saturday on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital and killed the wife and mother-in-law of an embassy employee.

“The thugs ordered the two women out, but they hesitated,” said Isaiah Osugo, a criminal investigator. “Then they were shot.”

The attackers escaped with the embassy vehicle but soon abandoned it, said Francis Munyambu, Nairobi’s deputy provisional police officer.

Police later killed two of the carjackers, police spokesman Gideon Kibunja said.

The attackers first commandeered a vehicle along the same road, Munyambu said, then used it to stop the embassy vehicle.

“Four men with AK-47s carjacked me,” said Michael Madine, who was driving the first vehicle. He said one of the assailants stayed in the car with him while the others attacked the embassy vehicle.

“I heard one of the women screaming and then I heard three gunshots,” Madine said.

Carjackings are common around Nairobi, and Kenya’s government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said the violence Saturday was believed to be “a random attack.”

In September, the chief U.S. military attache was shot and seriously wounded in a carjacking in Nairobi. Russia’s ambassador was stabbed in a robbery Aug. 20. A month earlier, a Danish diplomat was attacked and robbed.