Scores of teachers and civil servants were stranded at a remote Kenyan airstrip on Thursday, demanding evacuation and protection five days after Islamist gunmen killed 28 non-Muslim bus passengers in the surrounding border region near Somalia.

Somalia's al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in the Mandera area, where gunmen commandeered the Nairobi-bound bus, then killed anyone who could not recite verses from the Koran.

Many people fled, and unions representing teachers and health workers in the area advised members to leave for their own safety.