Kenyan police have fought a fierce battle with Shebab militants after an ambush near the border with Somalia, officials said Tuesday.
Kenyan police have fought a fierce battle with Shebab militants after an ambush near the border with Somalia, officials said Tuesday.
The militants claimed in a statement that at least 20 police were killed, although Kenyan authorities insisted that only five officers were wounded, with Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery dismissing claims of fatalities as "propaganda".
The Monday night attack came just days after extra Kenyan security forces were deployed in the area to strengthen security after a series of raids by gunmen from the Somali-led Al-Qaida branch.
Security sources said the officers were attacked close to the village of Yumbis, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Garissa and the scene of a clash between the Shebab and Kenyan security forces last week.
They were ambushed as they went to assist other police who had been targeted by an explosive device, believed to be a landmine or improvised roadside bomb.
"Mujahedeen fighters conducted a successful attack on the Christian troops of Kenya and the death toll is more than 20, five vehicles were also burned down," Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab said in a statement posted on a pro-militant website.
Kenya media and local officials initially said that between 10 and 20 police were killed, while a police spokesman said 13 officers were missing.
"There was an ambush on officers who were on patrol and as a result, 13 officers are missing," police spokesman George Kinoti said.
"More police officers have been dispatched to look for those missing and the attackers."
But Garissa County Commissioner James Kianda contradicted that account -- insisting to reporters in Garissa that all officers had been accounted for.
The interior ministry said there were five wounded, with one officer airlifted to Nairobi and another in a critical condition.
Garissa County has remained volatile with numerous attacks since last month when four Shebab militants stormed Garissa University College, killing 142 students and six members of the security forces during a day-long siege.
It was the group's deadliest attack in Kenya to date.
Also last week, Shebab militants briefly took control of a mosque in the area, delivering a hardline sermon to captive worshipers before leaving.
Once a Somalia-focused insurgent group, Shebab has in recent years turned its attention to Kenya, demanding it withdraw soldiers who were deployed to Somalia in 2011, and launching a series of attacks including the 2013 assault on Nairobi's Westgate mall that killed at least 67 people.
It remains unclear if the latest string of attacks have been carried out by Shebab units based in Somalia, or the group's cells inside Kenya -- where the militants have stepped up recruitment and operations.
