Gunmen opened fire on a church in Kenya Sunday, killing 17 people and wounding more than 40.    

Two gunmen killed policemen guarding the African Inland Church, took their rifles, walked inside, and began firing.

When the terrified people fled outside, two more gunmen were waiting to shoot them down.

"We were deep in prayers preparing to give our offerings," David Mwange, a churchgoer, said.

"We first had a loud bang from outside which we mistook to be coming from the rooftops," he continued. "We then had gun shots which made us to lie down. Within no time we had gunshots all over. Everybody was shouting and wailing in pain."

Two grenades also exploded at a nearby Catholic church the same morning.

The attacks took place in a town near the Somalia border.

The radical Islamic al-Shabab terrorist group rules that part of Somalia and has carried out attacks against Kenyan churches in the past.