Gunmen have kidnapped a 23-year-old Italian woman volunteering in Kenya, police said.

A further five people aged between 10 and 23 were also wounded by the attackers who shot indiscriminately in the county of Kilifi along the Kenyan coast, police chief Joseph Boinnet said.

They were identified as Samini Garama Dadu, Ibrahim Said, Elias Mwaringa Kathua, Mohamed Kalume Konde, and Mang Katana Jeffa.

The injured were taken to hospital.

Boinnet said the motive for the attack was not clear and the identity of the attackers is yet to be established.

Somali-based Islamic militants have been blamed for a spate of kidnappings of foreigners at Kenya’s coast.

Kenya said it was prompted to send troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al Shabab militants after the kidnappings of four foreigners.