Roadside bomb in Kenya kills 4 children

A roadside bomb in Kenya’s southern coastal area killed four policemen and four children yesterday, a senior police official said.

The explosion took place in Kiunga town, said Noah Mwivanda, a senior police officer in Lamu County.

This incident increases to 46 the death toll from homemade explosives planted by suspected alshabab extremists from Somalia in the last three months. The majority of fatalities have been policemen. Al-shabab, al-qaida’s affiliate in East Africa, has carried out more than 100 attacks on Kenya since 2011. It says the attacks are retribution for Kenya sending troops to Somalia to fight the insurgents.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is campaigning for re-election in August, did not immediately comment on the latest explosion. On Monday Kenyatta said that if re-elected, he would “strengthen the Anti-terrorism Police Unit by acquiring more specialized vehicles to counter and deter the security threats emerging from terrorist groups”.