Four Administration Police officers were killed after their armoured personnel carrier (APC) ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (Ied) at Baure in Lamu county.
Two other officers are missing and their whereabouts remains unknown.
Four of those killed and the two missing officers are Administration Police Service officers attached to Mangai Rapid Border Patrol Unit in Lamu East.
The fifth slain person was in civilian and was on board at the time. It has not been established if he is also an officer.
According to police sources, immediately after the vehicle hit the Ied, the al Shabaab militants suspected to have planted the explosive and laid an ambush started firing at the officers near Baure Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Camp.
KDF officers immediately responded and managed to repulse the attackers in order to access the scene of attack.
“Four police officers have perished in an IED attack. They were heading to Mokowe town in Lamu West to refuel the vehicle when they ran over an Ied. They were then attacked by suspected Al Shabaab in quick gun succession.” A senior officer said.
Last week, a total of eleven police officers were killed in Garissa and Mandera counties in two days in three separate incidents by suspected al Shabaab insurgents.
Lamu and Kiunga areas have experienced spate of attacks since the June 2014 Mpeketoni massacre.
In 2015, KDF officers attached to Baure KDF camp foiled an al Shabaab attack that could have coincided with the first anniversary of Mpeketoni attack.
British jihadist Thomas Evans was killed during the botched raid.
In May last year, suspected al Shabaab militiamen attacked Baure KDF camp in which six officers were killed and eighteen militants wiped out.
The government is grappling to contain renewed wave of terrorist attacks targeting the police despite having subdued similar attacks for the last two years.
