Kenya: 5 police officers feared dead in IED attack

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Adding to a grisly death toll this week, five Kenyan police officers are feared dead after their vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device in an area bordering Somalia, the Kenyan Red Cross said Thursday.

"A vehicle is reported to have run over an IED between Malelei & Kulan, Garissa county. Five feared dead and one injured," said a Kenyan Red Cross statement, adding that their team was on the ground and will soon provide more details.

The incident follows a spate of similar attacks carried out by suspected al-Shabaab militants from Somalia on Kenyan security forces patrolling the porous Kenyan-Somali border.

On Wednesday, eight Kenyan police officers were killed in a similar manner in two separate attacks in northern Kenya, also leaving eight police officers in critical condition.

This attack has increased the death toll of police officers patrolling the Kenya-Somali border to 20 this month alone.

In previous years the Somali-based al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab militant group has increased terror attacks in Kenya and Somalia during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts Friday.