Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 15- Three police officers were on Tuesday killed when the vehicle they were travelling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Garissa County.
Officials say that say the officers drawn from the Border Patrol Unit of the Administration were enroute to Garissa town when their vehicle was hit with the IED that had been planted on the road by suspected Al-Shabaab militants.
Garissa which seats on the Kenya-Somalia border continues to face the threat of attacks from the Shabaab terror outfit due to the vast and porous border which has made it easier for terrorist elements to infiltrate the country and stage attacks
The attack just comes a month after four people lost their lives after suspected Al-Shabaab militants targeted a convoy of Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) engineers in Garissa.
Police say the victims who were part of a team on a routine assessment of the LAPSSET road, lost their lives when the vehicle they were traveling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) believed to have been set by the Al-Shabaab elements.
According to police, the IED exploded destroying the first vehicle a Toyota Hilux Double Cabin vehicle completely.
“The other vehicles turned back to Hailey camp,” read a police report.
A convoy of KeNHA engineers in 3 vehicles were on routine assessment of the LAPSSET Road when they were attacked
The team was traveling from Garissa to Hailey Chinese Camp and then to Bura East.
Police managed to retrieve three bodies from the scene while the fourth body is believed to have been completely destroyed in the attack.
Last week Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said that security agencies had stepped up border surveillance to prevent Somalia-based militant group from gaining access into the country.
He noted the government-led crackdown on Al-Shabaab terror cells in Somalia has significantly weakened the group.
The Interior CS stated that they have stepped up border patrols to prevent the proliferation of illicit arms, illicit drugs.
“Our security agencies are alert to ensure that these militants do not cross into our territory to keep them at bay now that this terror group is its weakest,” he said.
Kindiki said that security agencies have improved on intelligence gathering to stay several steps ahead of the terrorists.
“We are always aware that terrorists only need one lucky break to hurt our Country and inflict us with pain. We must always strike first and fast to neutralize them and obliterate their nefarious networks,” he said.
He pointed out that security agencies had disrupted many terror plots at source.
