By Andrew Wasike
NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Four police officers on routine patrol in Eastern Kenya were killed in an ambush on Friday suspected of being carried out by the terrorist group al-Shabaab, a senior official confirmed.
Coastal Lamu County, located along the porous Somalia border, has been the site of multiple al-Shabaab terrorist attacks over the years, and was under a curfew following a deadly attack on Monday. The terrorist group mostly targets police forces.
Coast Regional Commissioner John Elungata confirmed the incident, saying the police vehicle was attacked and hit by "an explosive device that destroyed their vehicle."
He added that the police are unsure if their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device or a rocket-propelled grenade.
Some policemen in the vehicle were also injured, and they retaliated against the attackers, injuring some of them, he claimed, adding that they attempted to chase the attackers, who fled into a nearby forest.
Although the area was under curfew, the incident occurred in the morning along the Lamu-Garsen road in Lamu County.
On Monday, Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the county, following the killing of seven villagers by al-Shabaab terrorists earlier that day.
The terrorist group has long used improvised explosive devices to target security forces patrolling the porous Kenya-Somali border.
In 2018, more than 100 Kenyan police officers were killed in separate IED attacks along the Kenya-Somalia border.
Last year, saying it was focused on ensuring the safety of its troops fighting al-Shabaab insurgents, the Kenyan army placed an order for 118 high-performance armored personnel carriers (APCs) from Turkiye.