8 Kenyan police officers killed in border bomb attack

NAIROBI, Kenya

Eight police officers patrolling the Kenya-Somali border on Saturday were killed in an apparent al-Shabaab bomb attack along the porous Kenya-Somali border.

Five officers were also injured in the improvised explosive device (IED) attack in the Konton area of northeastern Kenya.

Confirming the attack to Anadolu Agency, a senior police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media said: "All the police officers were in a car patrolling the border, and the five who were injured have been rushed to Wajir hospital.”

The officer added that reinforcements have been sent to the area where the attack happened.

Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab militants have long carried out similar attacks in Kenya targeting security officers. In 2018 more than 100 Kenya police were killed in separate IED attacks along the porous Kenyan-Somali border.