Gunmen have kidnapped an Italian volunteer and injured five other people during a terrifying raid on Kenya's coast, according to police.
Attackers opened fire indiscriminately with AK-47 rifles in the town of Chakama in the region Kilifi, wounding five, said officers.
"The gang ... abducted an Italian lady aged 23 years who is a volunteer of Africa Milele Onlus, an NGO operating in the area," the National Police Service said on Twitter.
The wounded, who were all aged under 25, were dashed to hospital while authorities launched a manhunt for the attackers.
One of the wounded was a boy aged 10 who was shot in the eye, said police.
It is the first time a foreigner has been abducted in Kenya for several years.
Officials say it is not yet clear if the Islamist group al Shabaab, based in neighbouring Somalia, was involved.
"Neither the reasons for the attack nor the identity of the attackers have been established," police said.
An unidentified witness told Kenyan TV channel KTN News: "The European lady got out of her room, instead of lying on the ground, to enquire what was going on. One of the attackers then slapped her."
"Their aim was to get money but they took off with her to the river and, before leaving the village, they started shooting in the air and they shot one woman and four boys," the witness said.
Another witness told Reuters the gunmen appeared to be of Somali origin because of the language they used and clothes they wore.
"The attackers had clothes of Somali origin ... they spoke in Somali," Chad Joshua Kazungu, who saw the incident.
The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab aims to topple Somalia's foreign-backed government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam.
They have stepped up their attacks in Kenya since it sent troops into Somalia in 2011.
Additional reporting by Reuters
