Two Kenyan police officers killed in suspected Al-Shabaab bombing

GARISSA, Kenya - At least two Kenya Police officers were killed on Monday in the northeastern part of the country, security teams confirmed, following an Al-Shabaab attack that targeted a team sent to dispatch examination material to the Northern Frontier Districts [NFD].

The Improvised Explosive Device [IED] explosion also left four police officers critically injured in an attack which comes at the time security teams have made tremendous gains in pushing the militants out of the country following increased surveillance in Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, and Lamu counties.

According to security teams, the incident occurred in Ege-Dam along Dadaab-Garissa Road where the militants have been carrying out attacks targeting security teams. Those injured have since been taken to Garissa Provincial Hospital for advanced treatment, officials said.

Reports from security teams also confirmed that the officers were in one vehicle, headed for national examinations supervision duty, when they ran over the IED, suspected of having been planted by al-Shabaab militants.

Al-Shabaab has been using IEDs to attack members of security forces, senior government officials, and innocent civilians in northeastern Kenya and inside Somalia. In recent weeks, security teams in the region have managed to destroy Al-Shabaab bases within Garissa.

On Monday, two Al-Shabaab militants were killed by multi-agency security teams in the Fafi constituency within Garissa after a raid at their medical camp. Several medicines which they use in treating injured militants were recovered with materials used to make bombs also seized.

Al-Shabaab militants have been fighting to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia for the last 16 years but in vain. Currently, major security operations are being undertaken in Somalia aiming at destroying the militant catchment in several frontlines.

GAROWE ONLINE