MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Suspected separatists killed a Kenyan policeman and critically wounded two more when they attacked their camp in the coastal county of Kilifi, a senior regional official said on Friday.
Albert Kobia, the county commissioner for Kilifi, said machete-wielding attackers raided the police camp in the Mwanamwinga area on Thursday night, killing the corporal in charge.
"Some guns were stolen. We have launched a manhunt for the attackers," Kobia told Reuters.
He said the attackers struck at about 11 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) when it was raining heavily in the area.
"We think the MRC are involved," he said, referring to the Mombasa Republican Council, a separatist group that wants the coast to govern itself, citing decades of neglect by the government in Nairobi.
Randu Nzai, the secretary general of MRC, rejected the claim.
"We are not even aware of any attack in the first place. As usual the government is using us as a scapegoat on this one again," Nzai told Reuters.
The MRC is an outlawed group that lost most of its strength in heavy crackdowns by the government in 2012 and 2013. It had carried out several violent raids in the area before then.
This year, Kenya's coastal strip has borne the brunt of frequent gun and grenade attacks, mostly blamed on Islamists from neighbouring Somalia.
The attacks have caused a slump in tourism, an economic mainstay for the region and an important source of foreign exchange for Kenya.
(Reporting by Joseph Akwiri; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Paul Tait)