At least 21 people have been killed in new attacks in Kenya’s Lamu coastal region, the area where some 60 people were massacred in June, Kenyan authorities say.

A spokesman for Somalia’s Shebab rebels claimed on Sunday that the al-Qaeda-linked group’s fighters had struck again in Kenya, although police blamed the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a group that campaigns for independence of the coastal region.

In a separate incident, a Russian tourist was shot dead in the port city of Mombasa further south, which the police blamed on common “thuggery” – explaining the woman had resisted an attempt to steal her camera.

Police said the attacks late on Saturday near Lamu, carried out in the trading post of Hindi and the town of Gamba, left 21 people dead, while the Kenyan Red Cross said it had confirmed 22 deaths.

“We had attacks at night where people were killed and houses destroyed. We have mobilised our officers and we are on the ground,” said Robert Kitur, a senior Lamu police official.

Police said unidentified gunmen also torched several houses and attacked Gamba’s police station, freeing a suspect held over the attacks last month in the region. One policeman was among the dead, officials said.

“Preliminary investigation shows the attack was carried out by MRC members,” Kaindi told a press conference at the police headquarters. “There is also evidence that the attacks are motivated by political and religious issues.”

People gather around the body of a victim on Sunday.

A reporter in Hindi said all the dead in the town were men, apart from a teenage boy, who was reportedly shot as he tried to run away. The attackers also left messages scribbled in English and Swahili on a blackboard taken from a school.

“You invade Muslim country and you want to stay in peace,” one message stated.

Resident Elizabeth Opindo said she had actually spoken to the attackers, who torched her home but let her live, saying they did not kill women. She said there were about 10 attackers, speaking a mix of English, Swahili and Somali, all common Kenyan languages.

“They said they were attacking because Muslims’ lands were being taken,” she told AFP.

In a statement issued just hours after the violence, Somalia’s Shabab rebels said they were responsible.

“The attackers came back home safely to their base,” Shabab military spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said, adding the militants had killed 10 people.

The Shabab also claimed responsibility for last month’s attack at Mpeketoni, saying it was in retaliation for Kenya’s military presence in Somalia as part of the African Union force supporting the country’s fragile and internationally-backed government.

Survivors of the previous massacres reported how gunmen speaking Somali and carrying Shabab flags killed non-Muslims in revenge for Kenya’s presence in Somalia.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, however, denied that the Shabab were involved and instead blamed “local political networks” and criminal gangs, saying victims had been singled out because of their ethnicity.

Mpeketoni is a mainly Christian settlement in the Muslim-majority coastal region, which was settled decades ago by the Kikuyu people from central Kenya, the same tribe as Kenyatta.

Police also arrested alleged MRC members as well as the opposition-affiliated governor of Lamu county in the wake of the Mpeketoni attack. Lamu island is a well-known tourist destination whose ancient architecture is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The unrest in the coastal region has already badly dented Kenya’s tourist industry – a key foreign currency earner and massive employer for the country – at one of its traditionally busiest times of the year.