Police launch crackdown as explosions hit Kenya

GARISSA, Kenya - Kenyan authorities on Sunday launched crackdown after an Administration Police (AP) officer was killed and nine military soldiers wounded in twin separate attacks in Mandera and Wajir towns in northern Kenya.

Regional police commander Leo Nyongesa said security had been beefed up in the two districts and urged locals to give helpful information that may lead to arrests.

"We have beefed ups security in the two districts to apprehend those behind the attacks. We have also launched investigations to establish the motive behind the twin attacks," Nyongesa told Xinhua late on Sunday.

He urged the locals to cooperate with the government to give helpful information that will lead to the arrest of those criminals linked to Al-Shabaab insurgents that were applying guerrilla tactics.

The incident comes barely a week after an administration was killed and three others seriously injured in Ifo 2 refugee camp in Dadaab district after an explosives planted under an acacia tree where the officer escorting UNHCR convoy usually had a rest exploded.

Nyongesa said the police were on high alert over the incident and more reinforcements have been sent in the areas where both incidents occurred,

However, military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir said only two soldiers escaped with minor injuries in the Wajir incident which took place at 1230 local time (0930GMT).

He said the military officers were travelling from Wajir to Mandera in a convoy of three when one military vehicle drove over a landmine.

"A military vehicle (Hamvee) drove over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Wajir. The vehicle was heading to Elwak. A mobile phone suspected to have been used to detonate the explosive was recovered from the scene. Two soldiers suffered minor injuries, the vehicle was damaged," Chirchir said late on Sunday.

But eye witnesses and police reports said nine soldiers were critically injured in the incident and are currently undergoing treatment in Wajir district hospital.

In Mander, the police said the APs died on the spot and two regular police officers seriously injured in Mandera in an incident which took place at 1430 hours (1130GMT). The three were on a foot patrol near the Kenya-Somalia border.

"The Administration police officers were patrolling in Bula Hawa when they were attacked, one died while his colleague is wounded. They were patrolling on foot and he died on the spot," Nyongesa said, adding that the AP may have stumbled on the explosive device.

The regional police chief said the colleague who was wounded was rushed to the Mandera district hospital where he was being treated for burns and other related injuries.

"I want to take this earliest opportunity to condemn this criminal incident, we will make sure that we get all those involved to book from their hideouts," Nyongesa said.

"Its also my appeal to the residents of Wajir and the region at large to remain calm and offer any tangible information that will help us arrest this criminals who might be hiding in their midst."

Kenyan security personnel patrolling the Somalia border have been hit with a series of explosion attacks since Kenya sent its troops to fight Al-Shabaab inside Somalia, often killing or injuring officers.

Security forces at the border points are grappling with threats posed by the insurgents who have been laying landmines mainly targeting police and soldiers patrolling the Somalia border.

The source who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal said that after the loud bang which followed by smokes.

"We were resting in a small canteen chewing mirra (khat), when we saw the other two vehicles which had military officers ?passing, all ?I remember is hearing a loud explosion which was followed by smokes just seconds ?after the third land come passing," added the source who spoke on phone.

Following the incident, military officers surrounded the nearby settlement in a bid to arrest those behind the attack.

Wajir District Commissioner Kennedy Nyaiyo who confirmed the incident immediately condemned the incident, saying that "such characters out to cause havoc in the district that has enjoyed peace for long would not be spared."

The incident comes barely after an administration was killed and three others seriously injured in Ifo refugee camp 2 in Dadaab district after a land mine exploded at a regular checkpoint.

The East African nation has been beset by a spate of grenade and landmine attacks since it launched cross border incursion into neighbouring Somalia last month to pursue the al Qaeda allied Al- Shabaab militant group.

Since the Kenya military incursion into Somalia, several attacks believed to have been carried out by Al-Shabaab have occurred in Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa and Dadaab districts of northern Kenya even as the military reports gains against the group by capturing their military bases and killing scores of them.