Five police officers were Monday killed when their vehicle was attacked by suspected Al Shabaab militants in Mandera County at the Somalia- Kenya border.
Officials said the officers’ car was hit by a Rocket Propelled Grenade before it caught fire and engulfed them.
North Eastern Regional coordinator Mohamed Saleh said the attackers escaped soon after the incident that happened at about 9.30am. He said the officers were escorting a bus when the incident happened in Elwak area. The passenger bus was not affected in the incident. It had spent the night in Kotulo before it left for Nairobi with the police in escort as per requirement.
“We have sent a reinforcement to pursue the attackers who escaped soon after the incident. The bus was headed for Nairobi when the attack happened,” he said. Mandera Governor Ali Roba condemned the incident and accused police of not acting on an earlier intelligence warning. “We condemn the attack by Alshabab at Dimu this morning 5 police officers killed.
The info about their presence was long shared by the locals,” he said on his twitter account. Regional police commander Omar Shuria said more officers had been mobilized there to pursue the attackers who happened to know the time and movement of the vehicles. This is the latest attack in the area in the last month alone that has left at least ten officers injured. The area is near the main border and is vulnerable to attacks from the militants. They have been setting locally assembled bombs on the roads targeting police vehicles.
