Al-Shabaab ambushes Kenyan police, one officer killed

Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militants on Monday night ambushed police in Kenya's northeastern Garissa county, leaving one police officer died of injuries, an official has confirmed.

Some 60 policemen were attacked on their way from Dadaab and Alinjugur to aid four of their colleagues who had been injured in a landmine explosion.

The wounded officer died during the evacuation while four others have been airlifted to the capital Nairobi for treatment, said Inspector General of Police, Joseph Boinett.

"All officers have been accounted for following the ambush by the terrorists," Boinett said in a statement on late Tuesday.

He added that two vehicles were burned by the militants, but no civilians were affected.

"No lives of civilian population have been negatively affected in any way," he said.

The defense forces and police are now in control of the situation in the area and a "massive operation" is ongoing to pursue the militants, according to the police chief.

The police earlier dismissed Al-Shabaab's claim that 30 policemen were killed in the ambush.

In the same county last week, security forces thwarted a planned attack by the militant group.

Boinett urged the public to work with the government in the fight against the militants as the country is facing growing terror threats.

Al-Shabaab gunmen in early April carried out a siege on Garissa University College and 148 people were killed, mostly students.

Under fire for failing to avoid the university massacre, the government has started building walls along the border with Somalia in Kiunga town, Lamu county, to prevent terrorists from sneaking into the country. Endi