Kenya: Roadside bomb kills five soldiers in Lamu county

Five Kenyan soldiers have been killed after their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the country’s coastal Lamu county, a military spokesperson said.

Another ten soldiers were wounded in the blast, which occurred on Wednesday morning along the Kiunga-Sankuri road in the Indian Ocean town of Lamu, which is popular with Western tourists, Colonel Paul Njuguna said.

“Soldiers operating in Lamu county, while on a humanitarian civil assignment to fetch and distribute water to the residents in the area, hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED),” the military said in a statement.

Last month, the military denied reports that six soldiers died in a roadside bomb in the same area, about 100km from the border with Somalia.

Attacks in Kenya have increased since Nairobi sent its troops across the border into Somalia in October 2011 to fight armed group al-Shabab.

Kenyan security officers are regularly killed by roadside bombs planted by the al-Shabab group, which is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.