Monday, November 21, 2011
Army spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said four other soldiers were wounded when the truck was hit after driving over the device while on patrol in the frontier town of Mandera.
Kenya has been plagued by a wave of guerrilla-style attacks since it sent troops into Somalia in October to crush Islamist al Shabaab rebels, accusing the militant network of frequent attacks on its security forces and tourists inside Kenya.
"Following this incident, five KDF (Kenya Defence Forces) soldiers were seriously injured and have been airlifted to Garissa for treatment. By the time of this release one of the injured had succumbed to his injuries," Chirchir said in a statement.
Chirchir said the truck had 13 soldiers onboard.
Local media said 11 troops were wounded in the attack in Mandera, located in Kenya's sparsely populated far northeast, close to the porous borders with Ethiopia and Somalia.
Chirchir also confirmed that Kenyan fighter jets had bombed two Islamist militant bases in Somalia on Wednesday, near the town of Badade -- part of a series of strikes on what its military says are rebel targets.
Kenya, the region's biggest economy, is the latest of a string of foreign powers to try to stabilise Somalia, which has been mired in violence for two decades since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 allowed first warlords, then Islamist militants, to step into a power vacuum.Al Shabaab, fighting to impose a harsh interpretation of sharia law, has vowed revenge against Kenya and to bring the "flames of war" to its neighbour.
ATTACKS ON THE RISE
Kenyan Colonel Cyrus Oguna told Reuters it was too early to say whether the attack was the work of al Shabaab or bandits.
"It was an IED (improvised explosive device). We're going to confirm the extent of damage. It hit a lorry carrying personnel," Oguna said.
Local residents said the truck caught fire after the blast.
"I heard a heavy explosion... I saw smoke. The truck was burning and was reduced to a shell," said Ibrahim Mohamed. "I saw three officers on the ground, they were all crying out... their bodies were blood-stained."
Targeted bomb attacks in the areas near the border with Somalia have been on the rise since Kenya's incursion.
A remote-controlled bomb blew up a police vehicle escorting a U.N. convoy in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp near the border with Somalia last week.
Another Kenyan police truck escorting U.N. vehicles hit a landmine in the same area earlier this month, but the explosive failed to detonate.