Lamu/Kenya — Five people were killed on Sunday when armed assailants attacked two villages in Lamu county in southeast Kenya, police said.

The attackers also burnt houses and destroyed property.

Police described the incident as a "terrorist attack", a phrase they typically use to refer to incursions by Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab group.

Lamu is near Kenya's border with Somalia and fighters from al Shabaab frequently carry out attacks in the area as part of efforts to press Kenya to withdraw troops from Somalia, where they are part of an international peacekeeping force defending the central government.

Police said a group of assailants attacked Salama and Juhudi villages early on Sunday morning.

Houses belonging to those killed and other residents were torched in the attack and the assailants then disappeared into a nearby forest, police said.

The al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab has been fighting for years in Somalia to topple the central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.