Kenyan Troops Wounded in Border Blast

A Kenyan soldier was killed and four seriously wounded Thursday when an explosive device blew up their truck close to the border with war-torn Somalia, an army spokesman said.

"Five KDF (Kenya Defense Force) soldiers were seriously injured and have been airlifted to Garissa for treatment," Major Emmanuel Chirchir said, adding that one later "succumbed to his injuries."

Attackers opened fire on the soldiers after the blast, which happened near the Kenyan border town of Mandera, according to a senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Kenyan officials blame Somali Islamist Shebab insurgents or their sympathizers for a spate of recent shootings and bombings, although armed bandits also operate in the border areas.

On Tuesday, gunmen shot and wounded two Kenyan police officers the border town of Liboi by unknown gunmen.

Earlier this month two people were killed in a grenade attack on a church in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa.

The government in Nairobi sent troops and tanks into Somalia last month to fight the al-Qaida linked insurgents, accused of a series of attacks on its territory, including the abduction of four foreign women.

The Shebab, who control large areas of southern Somalia, deny the attacks.

Regional armies are now pushing against Shebab positions in Somalia, with Kenyan forces in the south, Ugandan and Burundian African Union forces in Mogadishu, and Ethiopian troops in the west.