Al-Shabaab militants raided a quarry in Kenya , separating non-Muslim workers from their Muslim counterparts and executing them , a spokesman for the group said Tuesday . At least 36 bodies were found Tuesday dumped in the quarry in the village of Kormey , near the Somali border , the Kenyan Red Cross said . Al-Shabaab said the attack was retaliation for mosque raids that Kenyan security forces carried out last month to weed out extremists . Kormey is about 15 kilometers ( 9 miles ) from the border city of Mandera , in an area where the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militants are known to operate . Last month , the Islamist militants ambushed a bus in Kenya and sprayed bullets on those who failed to recite Quran verses , killing at least 28 people , authorities said . The bus , which had 60 people aboard , was heading from Mandera to the capital of Nairobi . The group says the latest attacks are a response to the police raid on multiple mosques in the port city of Mombasa after explosives were found in one . `` Our Mujhahideen forces are always ready to launch frequent deadly cross-border attacks against Kenya as a revenge , '' group spokesman Sheikh Ali Dheere said in a statement read on a pro-Al-Shabaab radio station in Somalia . National police chief resigns . After news of the quarry attack surfaced , Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he accepted the resignation of the country 's national police chief , David Kimaiyo . Kenyatta said the recent attacks constituted `` a war , and a war we must win . '' Tuesday 's attack was swiftly condemned , with Nairobi 's Jamia Mosque , the largest in the country , calling it a `` beastly tactic . '' `` This unfortunate and ugly incident should not be used to divide peace loving Kenyans who have lived harmoniously for centuries -- along religious or ethnic lines , '' the mosque said in a statement , `` but rather it should be taken to reflect on improving the security situation of the country . '' Al-Shabaab , which has ties to al Qaeda , has launched a series of attacks in Kenya since Kenyan forces went into neighboring Somalia in 2011 to battle the extremists . Kenyan soldiers have targeted militants ' hideouts across Somalia , prompting retaliatory attacks from the terror group . Last year , Al-Shabaab raided a Nairobi mall in a brazen attack that left 68 people dead and kept shoppers under siege for days . In addition to Kenya and Somalia , the terror group has struck in Uganda , where it killed more than 70 people gathered to watch a broadcast of the World Cup Final soccer match in Kampala in 2010 . As the attacks get more daring , the international community has rallied to battle the militants . In September , a U.S. airstrike killed Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane . The terror group later replaced him and vowed to avenge his death .
Nairobi 's President accepts the national police chief 's resignation . Kormey said the quarry attack was retaliation for mosque raids . 2011 , the non-Muslim militants ambushed a bus and killed 60 . The international community has rallied to battle the militants .