5 days ago
Blast kills three Kenyan soldiers on road near Somali border
A blast has killed three Kenyan soldiers patrolling a road in the east of the country near the Somali border, the military said.
The al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab said on its website at least two Kenyan soldiers were killed and others wounded in a blast that targeted a convoy in a similar area on Tuesday, but it did not directly claim responsibility.
The patrol hit an improvised explosive device (IED) on Tuesday morning on the road between Sankuri and Kiunga, a coastal town 12km from the Somali border, the army said.
"Regrettably, three gallant soldiers succumbed to their injuries. These soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice," the Kenya Defence Forces said in a statement released late on Tuesday.
Al Shabaab controls large swathes of southern and central Somalia and frequently makes cross-border attacks on military and civilian targets, which security analysts say are aimed at pressuring Kenya into withdrawing its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia.
