Five Kenyan security officers were killed in Mandera County on Tuesday after suspected Al-Shabaab militants detonated an improvised explosive device beneath their patrol vehicle and launched a coordinated ambush near the Kenya-Somalia border.

The victims, four members of the elite Special Operations Group and a National Police Reservist, were targeted in the El-Raamo area along the Alungu supply route in an attack that also left several other officers injured.

According to police, the militants had planted the explosive device a week earlier and lay in wait for passing security patrols.

A reinforcement team sent to rescue the casualties was delayed when their own armored vehicle struck a secondary IED and came under fire.

The gunmen escaped into the surrounding terrain following the exchange of gunfire.

Several officers who were injured during the initial attack were airlifted to Nairobi for medical treatment, where they were visited in the hospital by Deputy Inspector General of the Administration Police Service Gilbert Masengeli.

Security forces have since deployed additional reinforcements to secure the area and pursue the attackers.