By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya

Somali-based al-Shabaab militants killed five police officers Tuesday and burnt a police vehicle in the town of El-Wak close to the Kenya-Somali border.

“We lost five security officers in the attack while on patrol on Elwak-Kotulo road. A team responding to the attack was also attacked and their lorry burnt.” Mandera South Deputy County Commissioner Daniel Bundotich told local media.

Bundotich said three of the slain officers were police reservists while the other two were administrative officers.

The militants had “waylaid the unsuspecting patrol team. It was an ambush”, said a police officer with knowledge of the attack who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The attack comes less than a week after the militants attacked and burnt two police stations in Garissa county in northern Kenya.

In previous years, the Somali-based al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab stepped up terror attacks in Kenya in retaliation for Kenya’s military presence in Somalia. The group’s bloodiest attack took place on April 2, 2015, when they killed 147 students of Garissa University.