Three Administration Police (AP) officers sustained serious injuries after the vehicle they were travelling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Sunday morning in Ijara, Garissa County.
The officers from the AP’s Critical Infrastructure Police Unit (CIPU) were in a convoy escorting the Ijara Member of Parliament aspirant, Ibrahim Abbas when the attack occurred between Ijara and Sangole area.
A brief to the police headquarters also indicated that the vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser, was extensively damaged.
Area police boss George Seda said details were still scanty but added that additional officers had been sent to the area for rescue operations and to hunt down the attackers.
Among the seriously injured are the driver and two of his colleagues.
The terror group has carried out several similar attacks in the northeastern region, especially Wajir, Garissa and Mandera, and some parts of Coast regions that have led to the death of over 40 people with several others injured since the year began.
Attacks target security officers
Most of the attacks have been targeting security patrols on key routes along the porous Kenya-Somalia border, and have led to deaths, injuries, disruption of normal lives in some areas, and growing fear among residents.
On March 14, at least 11 Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers were killed when a vehicle they were travelling in was hit by an explosive in Girilley, Gedo in Somalia.
Five other soldiers were injured in the incident when their lorry ran over an IED planted by suspected Alshabaab militants.
The officers were attached to the African Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and are from the Kenya Army’s 15 Batallion Kenya Rifles (15KR).
The previous day, March 13, three employees of a road construction company were injured when a vehicle they were travelling in also ran over an IED along the Banisa-Mandera road.
The workers were headed to a construction site when their Land Cruiser ran over the explosive device.
Early this year, 10 people were killed when a passenger bus hit an IED on the Arabia-Mandera highway.
The blast came just days after several Western countries issued a terror warning for Kenya.
On January 7, four police officers were also killed in an attack in Lamu.
In the last two years, security agencies have been facing the new challenge of the use of IEDs as the weapon of choice after the fighting capability of the militants was significantly reduced.
The IEDs are unpredictable, as they are not manufactured within the same set of specifications as regular land mines. Most IEDs are also cheaper and easier to manufacture.
