Police on Tuesday confirmed that five Kenyan police officers were injured in a roadside blast in Mandera County, the northeast part of the country that shares the border with Somalia.

The police said the officers were part of a convoy of three vehicles with 70 officers en route to Mandera from Elwak when their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Lafey area.

“The vehicle was hit by directional IED, followed by gunshots, and as a result, five police officers sustained slight body injuries,” the police said in a security report.

The incident happened hours after the police said they had heightened security in Mandera County near the Somalia border following credible intelligence reports that al-Shabab militants plan to carry out attacks in the region.

The police said the deployment follows reports of movements of militants Sunday evening from areas along the Kenya-Somalia border to carry out terror attacks.

The police said the five officers suffered minor body injuries from gunshots fired by suspected al-Shabab militants who laid the ambush.

The officers were in a truck in the middle of the convoy, the police said, noting that the vehicle was partly damaged, with its front tire deflated and the windscreen shattered.

This is the latest such incident in the area amid ongoing operations to address the menace.

The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border, where al-Shabab militants cross at will for attacks in Kenya.

(Xinhua/NAN)