Kenya: Six dead and 7 injured in an explosive device attack

A bomb blast near the northeastern Kenyan border near Somalia has killed at least six people and injured seven, police say.

"We had an incident this morning in which six people were killed in an attack on a vehicle," said Bruno Sioso, a police spokesman.

Seven people were injured and have "varying degrees of injuries," he added.

The vehicle, which had 14 positions, fell on an explosive device and then came under fire from automatic weapons and grenades, according to a report released by the police, which states that the attack took place about 8 kilometers from the city of Mandera.

"A patrol of the General Services Unit (a special forces unit of the Kenyan police), which was nearby, intervened and turned against the perpetrators of the attack, who fled to the border with Somalia," the police report added.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the Mandera region, raids are taking place along the border with Somalia, where the Somali Islamist group al-Shebab controls extensive rural areas.

Kenyan officials regularly blame al-Shabab for the attacks on Kenyan soil and other border areas.

Since its military intervention in southern Somalia in 2011 against al-Shebab fighters, Kenya has been the target of several deadly attacks, most notably at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September 2013 with 67 dead at the university. of Garissa, in eastern Kenya, in April 2015 with 148 dead and the one at the Dusit hotel complex in Nairobi in January 2019 with 21 dead.

Kenya is making a significant contribution to the African Union's military mission in Somalia, which in 2011 ousted al-Shebab fighters from Mogadishu.

In January 2020, al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab warned that Kenya "would never be safe."

Last week, foreign embassies (France, Germany, USA) warned of a possible terrorist attack on foreigners in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Source: RES-EAP