Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Witnesses said the device exploded just two minutes after the vehicle carrying the Kenya Revenue Authority officials had passed near the Mandera cereals and produce board depot.
Mandera East district commissioner Benson Leparmorijo said he did not know why the attackers could have been targeting the occupants of the vehicle.
Mr Leparmorijo said no suspect had been arrested as hundreds of the residents rushed to the scene, making it hard for the police to trail the attackers.
There has been a series of landmine attacks in northern Kenya since the Kenya Defence Forces crossed into Somalia to pursue Al-Shabaab militants in mid October.
The military operation is targeting Somali militants blamed for a string of abductions and murders in Kenya.
Police targeted
Seven police officers have been killed in 10 attacks in Mandera town, while 19 people have been killed in Garissa County, among them five security officers.
At least five people were killed on New Year’s Eve and 20 others seriously injured as they were ushering in the New Year after two grenades were hurled into a night club by suspected Al-Shabaab militants or their sympathisers.
Four gunmen at the weekend shot dead a Somali refugee leader at Ifo camp in Dadaab.