A bomb exploded yesterday at the Dadaab Refugee Complex near the Somalia border killing one policeman and seriously injuring two others. Initial reports indicated that three policemen had been killed in the blast, but police only confirmed one death in the latest of a series of landmine and grenade attacks in areas bordering Somalia.

Dadaab deputy police chief Nelson Kaliti said one policeman was killed in the blast, which was suspected to be a remote controlled roadside bomb. "We heard an explosion and on our arrival saw the vehicle ripped in two. The front part of the wreckage was lying on top of the mutilated body of the driver.

Two other badly wounded policemen were pulled out of the wreckage," said a supervisor for the G4S private security group, who declined to be named."There was an attack on a police vehicle this afternoon which killed a police officer, two others have sustained serious burns," a senior police officer in Dadaab, near the Somalia border, told AFP by telephone. "They are being treated at a hospital. They are in a critical condition because of the nature of the injuries," the officer said, adding that the police officers were escorting aid workers in a convoy. "Two vehicles had passed and the police vehicle was the third, it went over a landmine that exploded," he added.

The attack occurred in 'Borehole 3', an area within the sprawling Hagadera camp which is part of the Dadaab complex. Medics said the wounded had been taken to a hospital run by the International Rescue Committee. Hagadera has witnessed a number of attacks in recent months. Last month a remote-controlled bomb blew up a police vehicle escorting a UN convoy near Hagadera.

In October two Spanish aid workers for Medecins Sans Frontieres were kidnapped from Dadaab by suspected Al Shabaab militias. The explosion in Dadaab occurred as Defence minister Yusuf Haji and the Chief of Defence Forces General Julius Karangi travelled to Britain last Friday.

Their mission in London remains unclear, but observers point out that the UK is preparing to host a major conference on the Somalia situation early next year. The visit also comes two weeks after Kenya agreed to place its troops in Somalia under the African Mission in Somalia (Amisom).

The two top decision makers in the Department of Defence will be in London for an unknown length of time with military sources unwilling to say whether the visit was private or official. Haji and Karangi - who was appointed in July to replace the last Chief of General Staff, Gen Jeremiah Kianga - have been in the forefront of the military incursion into Somalia since mid October.

The army has been fighting the al Shabaab militia and has taken many towns in Somalia previously controlled by the ragtag militia group. They aim to take the port town of Kismayu to weaken and dismantle the al Shabaab. The militia group has retaliated the incursion by setting off several explosives in Northern Kenya, and has threatened to attack Nairobi. Al Shabaab meanwhile claimed to have dislodged Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) allies Ahlu Sunna Waljamaa militia from their stronghold in Gagaduud in Central Somalia on Sunday.

According to a tweet HSMPress, the al Shabaab said that their fighters had taken over Dhusamreeb town in Galgudud area after fierce fighting. "Mujahideen forces take over the city of Dhusamreeb, Galgudud region, Central Somalia after fierce fighting that lasted nearly two hours," the tweet said. The TFG sources confirmed the fighting but said the al Shabaab fighters had been repulsed when they attacked their camps.

An unknown number of people are reported to have died in Dhusamreeb area within Galgadud region following clashes between al Shabaab and pro-TFG government Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa on Saturday. Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa leaders who have been supporting the TFG have threatened not to fight alongside government forces in their quest to dislodge al Shabaab following a misunderstanding between the two groups.