Islamist Militants Kill Five Police Officers in Northern Kenya

FILE - A Kenya Defense Force soldier runs for cover near the perimeter wall where al-Shabab attackers have holed up at a campus in Garissa, Kenya, April 2, 2015. Five Kenyan police officers are dead after suspected Islamist al-Shabab militants attacked a police convoy as it traveled through the northeastern part of the country, a local official said.

Five Kenyan police officers are dead after suspected Islamist al-Shabab militants attacked a police convoy as it traveled through the northeastern part of the country, a local official said.

The police were providing security for a bus near the town of Elwak, near the Somalian border, when the militants blew up their vehicle with what is believed to be a rocket-propelled grenade.

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

Al-Shabab, the al-Qaida affiliate in East Africa, is based in Somalia and routinely stages attacks in Kenya. The Kenyan border with Somalia is seen as a weak spot for security due to its remoteness and the lack of coordination between police forces on either side.