Kenya on Tuesday ordered Al Jazeera to be placed under investigation and face possible charges over a report the Qatar-based TV news network aired alleging Kenyan police operate death squads that target al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

Kenya on Tuesday ordered Al Jazeera to be placed under investigation and face possible charges over a report the Qatar-based TV news network aired alleging Kenyan police operate death squads that target al-Qaeda-linked extremists.

The Kenyan government said the Al Jazeera documentary, aired on Monday, was "scandalous and unethical", insisting it "does not operate death squads".

"The government has filed a formal complaint with the Media Council of Kenya, requesting them to investigate Al Jazeera for professional misconduct," a government statement said.

"Furthermore, given the apparent capacity of the documentary to undermine the country's security and our fight against terrorism, the government has instructed the relevant authorities to begin investigations with a view to bringing charges against those involved in the documentary," it added.

The rare threat of charges comes a day before Kenyan lawmakers are due to debate the hardening of security laws.

Proposals include jail terms of up to three years for journalists broadcasting reports deemed to "undermine investigations or security operations relating to terrorism," according to a draft seen by AFP.

The report by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit quoted men who claimed to be Kenyan anti-terrorist officers and who said they were involved in an assassination program sanctioned by top police and government officials.

Britain and the United States provide funding for Kenya's police anti-terrorism units.

One man quoted said 500 people were killed in a year.

The government hit back by saying that "Kenya does not even have that many clerics".

The report, it said, was calculated to "create mass panic and fan religious animosity."

Earlier this month Kenya's interior minister and police chief were removed from their posts after Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliated Shebab militants carried out massacres in the northeast of the country.