By CYRUS OMBATI

A police officer was killed and three others seriously injured when explosive hit a police vehicle in Lagdera near Dadaab refugee camp.

The Administration Police officers were escorting a group of UNHCR staff when an Improvised Explosive Device hit the vehicle.

Police said the device had been planted on the road in Dagahaley township where the incident happened.

The injured officers were rushed to Garissa Provincial Hospital and plans were underway to airlift them to Nairobi for specialised treatment.

North Eastern PPO Leo Nyongesa said they were yet to make any arrests in connection with the latest attack targeted at police officers.

Security officers were immediately mobilised to the area soon after the explosion as investigations began.

Remnants

The officers who are on the ground blamed the attack on remnants of Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants who operate in the province.

“It seems they have obtained more IEDs, which they have started to use on our officers but we will get them,” said a senior officer on the ground.

The incident was a surprise to the security agencies in the area because there has been a lull on similar ones in the past four months.

Security agencies have been targets since Kenyan troops crossed to Somalia to hunt down the militants last October. The military crossed after the militants were blamed on several insecurity related incidents in North Eastern and Coast provinces.

And since then, Kenya's security chiefs have been pondering on how to tame spontaneous grenade attacks and those from IEDs that have rocked the country and, which have been attributed to Al-Shabaab.

A series of similar attacks have killed over 24 people and left several others wounded.

To mitigate the problem, more police officers were moved to Coast Province following fears of more attacks as both the Anti-Terror Police Unit and Criminal Intelligence Unit upped their efforts to collect intelligence on the issue.

Police say they fear the remnants have been getting the devices in the past months in readiness for attacks. This was after the detectives recovered the explosives in North Eastern last month hours after they had been shipped in and assembled.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe urged for concerted efforts from the public to help fight the criminals behind the incidents.

“As police try to deter the criminals from carrying out more attacks, the public are encouraged to help us with information on  suspect actions,” he said.