Five police officers killed in Mandera grenade attack

The police officers who were escorting a passenger bus from Mandera were killed Monday morning after their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near Kotulo. GOOGLE MAPS 

By Nation Reporter and Reuters

Somalia's al Shabaab militants killed five police officers in a border region in northeastern Kenya on Monday, a regional official said.

There was no immediate statement from al Shabaab, which has made a series of deadly incursions into Kenya, saying it will continue until Nairobi withdraws troops from an African Union force fighting the militants in Somalia.

"We condemn the attack by al Shabaab at Dimu this morning, five police officers killed," Mandera County Governor Ali Roba said on his Twitter account.

The police officers who were escorting a passenger bus from Mandera were killed Monday morning after their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near Kotulo. The attackers, police say, also burnt the vehicle. The officers were escorting the bus, called the Desert Cruiser, that was travelling to Nairobi. Mandera County Police Commander Job Boronjo confirmed the attack and said the bus was not hit.

Diplomats say Kenya's northeastern border with Somalia is a security weak spot, given the challenge of policing a long frontier, poor coordination between security services and a culture of corruption that allows those prepared to pay a bribe to pass unchallenged.

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