Kenya: Roadside bomb kills five police officers in Liboi May 25

Event

Kenyan officials confirmed that five police officers were killed in Liboi, Garissa county, by an improvised explosive device (IED) on Thursday, May 25. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bomb. The officers were attacked while traveling to join a security operation in the area.

Context

On Wednesday, May 24, nine police officers were killed in two separate bombings in the same area. Garissa county has suffered several attacks linked to Al-Shabaab in the past few years, including the 2015 assault at Garissa University, in which 148 people were killed.

Al-Shabaab attacks have often targeted Kenya’s northeast, near the porous border with Somalia, as well as coastal areas popular with tourists and the capital Nairobi. The militant group has been effectively at war with the country since Kenyan forces engaged in the international fight against the terrorist group beginning in October 2011.

Al-Shabaab, which seeks to topple Somalia's government and impose its own harsh interpretation of Sharia law, says it will continue to attack Kenya until Nairobi withdraws its troops from the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Advice

Individuals in Kenya are advised to report any suspicious objects or behavior to the relevant authorities and be particularly cautious when visiting sites deemed particularly likely to be targeted in an attack (government buildings, places of worship, tourist sites, etc.). Due to these and other security concerns, many Western governments advise against travel to a number of regions in the country, including areas bordering Somalia (parts of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu counties), Ethiopia, and South Sudan, as well as nonessential travel to the city of Mombasa. Several Nairobi neighborhoods, including Eastleigh and Pangani, are also best avoided.