Kenya: Police chief says roadside bomb kills 11 officers

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s police chief says a roadside bomb has killed 11 officers on the country’s southern border with Somalia.

Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai said Saturday the officers’ patrol car was blown up on Damajale Hare Hare road near the town of Liboi. No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb, but al-Shabab militants from Somalia are suspected.

The al-Qaida-linked group has increasingly targeted Kenyan security forces in recent years. It vowed to take retribution on Kenya in 2011 for sending troops into Somalia to target its fighters.

In July, Kenyan border police killed three suspected al-Shabab members who allegedly blew up their vehicle near the Somali border. A January attack on a Nairobi luxury hotel complex by al-Shabab extremists killed 21 people.