MOGADISHU – Somali armed group al Shabaab claimed to have carried out an attack on Kenyan police troops, leaving 5 soldiers dead.
The attack triggered heavy fighting took place in Waranqara area of Mandera, a town close to Kenyan border along Somalia.
The group says its fighters had killed 5 Kenyan soldiers and wounded 20 others, some seriously during a fierce skirmish.
“We have killed 5 soldiers and injured 20 in an ambush attack in Mandera late on Monday”, Radio Andulus said, an al Shabaab mouthpiece.
Kenyan North Eastern regional commissioner Mohamed Birik said a soldier lost his life in the attack claimed by al Shabaab.
He says the attackers fled.
The attack comes as Kenyan forces shut down quarry work sites in Mandera in fear of attacks by al Shabaab.
The al Qaeda linked al Shabaab carried out similar attacks in Kenyan soul for the last couple of years.
