Five police killed in second Kenya roadside bomb: governor

At least five people were killed and six injured when a car bomb exploded outside the port in the Somali capital Mogadishu

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Five police officers were killed Wednesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in northeastern Kenya, a local governor said, just hours after a similar blast claimed three police lives.

The officers were travelling in a convoy with Mandera county governor Ali Roba between the towns of Arabia and Fino near the Somali border when one of the vehicles hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

“Unfortunately, I lost five of my security officers including my personal bodyguard at an attack on my convoy,” Roba wrote on his Facebook page, saying that he was not injured in the blast.

Earlier on Wednesday a vehicle carrying three police officers was driving towards the regional town of Garissa further south when it struck a similar device close to the Liboi border post.

“They all died on the spot after their vehicle hit an Improvised Explosive Device,” said a regional police officer, on condition of anonymity.

Police spokesman George Kinoti confirmed the earlier incident, saying: “There was an attack this morning and we lost officers.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either bombing but Kenya’s eastern border with Somalia is notoriously restive and prone to attacks staged by Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab militants.

The deadly blasts came a day after police warned of increased Islamist activity in the area.

Islamic militants “are dispatching operatives into parts of north eastern region to lay IEDs along routes used by our security patrols in efforts to frustrate our security operations at the border areas,” the police statement said.

The Shabaab is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu but began attacking Kenya in 2011 after Nairobi ordered its troops into Somalia to fight the militants.

****

At least five dead in Mogadishu bombing
At least five people were killed and six injured when a car bomb exploded outside the port in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said.

“A car loaded with explosives was detonated near a cafe and it killed five people with six others wounded,” said Abdifatah Omar Halane, spokesman for the Mogadishu city administration.

Witnesses said the vehicle was parked outside the cafe close to the entrance of Mogadishu seaport, a busy, central part of the city where crowds commonly gather to trade and socialise.

Soon after the blast ambulances rushed to the scene and security forces sealed off the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Al-Qaeda-aligned militants of the Shabaab carry out frequent attacks in the capital targeting government, military and civilians.

In December a suicide truck bombing, claimed by Shabaab, killed more than 20 people in the same area outside the port.

Since 2007 the Shabaab has been fighting to overthrow a succession of internationally-backed governments in Mogadishu.