Al-Shabab kills five Kenyan security personnel in ambush

The ambush is part of a rapid surge in cross-border attacks along Kenya’s northern frontier.Five Kenyan security personnel have been killed while on patrol near the Somalia border in Mandera county by the armed group al-Shabab.Kenyan police said on Wednesday that the Tuesday attack occurred just before a bomb destroyed a vehicle sent to reinforce the targeted patrol.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Suspected Somali pirates seize tanker near Yemen amid wave of hijackingslist 2 of 3Somalia races to save Radio Mogadishu’s fading archivelist 3 of 3Who is driving diplomacy in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, and why?end of listAl-Shabab has claimed responsibility through an affiliated media outlet, attributing the operation to its armed wing.Tuesday’s attack was among the deadliest in a string of recent attacks along the same stretch of Mandera, in northeastern Kenya, in recent weeks, underscoring the group’s intent to continue targeting the region.According to a Kenyan police report, a Special Operations Group patrol, an elite police “counter-terrorism” unit, came under fire near Wantey Dam, about 6km (4 miles) from Lafey police station, shortly after midday.Five members of the security forces were killed in the initial assault. A reinforcement team dispatched to the scene was then struck by a roadside bomb that destroyed an armoured vehicle, though no one on board was hurt.On July 13, Kenyan forces stormed a suspected camp near the border, killing 11 fighters and disrupting what officials said was a plan by around 30 to attack a nearby village.Eleven days later, on July 24, gunmen struck two villages in the same district, Fino and Arabia, within an hour of each other.Al-Shabab, an armed group linked to al-Qaeda, controls large areas of south-central Somalia and has been fighting the country’s central government for close to two decades.