KDF soldier killed, five injured in landmine explosions near Kenya-Somali border

One Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officer has been killed after landmine explosions in different locations near the Kenya-Somalia border in Lamu County.

The explosions, that took place Sirira and Ishakan villages on Tuesday evening, also injured five others who are currently recuperating in hospital.

KDF said the soldiers were on patrol along the Kenya-Somalia border when their vehicles stepped on improvised explosive devices that had been planted on the roads by Al-Shabaab.

More officers have been deployed in the area to pursue the militants when the incident occurred.

The Al-Shabaab has vowed to wage war against Kenya in retaliation over the incursion of KDF troops in Somalia in 2011.

The East African nation is building the security wall along its border with Somalia in a bid to keep out Al-Shabaab and boost security after a wave of attacks that have claimed scores of lives and provoked severe criticism of the government’s response.

The wall, a series of concrete barriers, fences, ditches and observation posts overlooked by CCTV stations, is expected to stretch from the Indian Ocean to Mandera, where both countries converge with Ethiopia.