MANDERA, Kenya, May 17 (Xinhua) -- A Kenyan official was killed on Wednesday after a vehicle he was traveling in ran over an improvised explosive device in Elwak area near Kenya-Somalia border.
Mandera East divisional police commander Timothy Muasya said the explosive device was buried on the ground by unknown people. The driver survived with serious injuries after the 1 p.m. incident.
He said the deceased government engineer was travelling from Kombo area in Elwak when his vehicle ran over the IED blowing the driver cabinet.
"We are investigating the incident as at this moment we can not link it to anybody as our officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit have carried the debris for analysis," Muasya said.
He said the deceased worked for a local construction company. Muasya said the police have been dispatched to the area for surveillance as it is a hot spot area where security vehicles had been attacked in the past.
"Our buses plying the route remain heavily guarded by armed police escort to prevent attacks by the Al-Shabaab," he said. Police said the IED was targeting government vehicles using the Wajir-Mandera road.
Witnesses said the affected vehicle was traveling from Wajir to Mandera carrying the workers of a road construction company when the incident happened.
The incident is the latest in a series that have been happening in the last two weeks targeting government vehicles. Police have blamed the attacks on Al-Shabaab militants who are operating in the area.
Mandera County has been scene of vicious attacks since 2014 where dozens of non-locals were killed in commuter busses and at a quarry site.
The county and other parts of northern Kenya have been subjected to successive explosive attacks by Al-Shabaab operatives in the country following the onslaught by Kenyan soldiers on the Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia.
At least four people were killed on Tuesday after a vehicle they were traveling in ran over an IED in Liboi area, Garissa County.
On Monday night, the militants raided a home of a chief in Omar Jillo in Mandera and killed him.
