Four people died on Wednesday after the vehicle they were travelling in hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the Lapsset road in Bura East, Tana River County.
Three of the victims are said to be staff of Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA).
“A convoy of Kenha engineers in three vehicles who were on routine assessment of the Lapsset road were attacked by suspected Al- Shabaab who had placed an IED on the old Lapsset road which exploded destroying the first vehicle,” apolice signal seen by Nation.africa stated.
The vehicle, a Toyota Hilux Double-Cabin, was completely wrecked in the blast.
However, following the attack, drivers of the other vehicles returned to Hailey Camp.
“Three bodies were found and it is believed the body of the fourth person was completely destroyed in the vehicle,” a police signal read.
Also in the Nyongoro area, a Rocket-Propelled Grenade(RPG) missed a General Service Unit vehicle but no officer was injured in the incident according to a police source.
The attacks come barely a week after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki directed the immediate recruitment, training, arming, and deployment of 100 National Police Reservists (NPR) to all insecure villages as a measure to curb insecurity in the neighbouring Lamu County.
The movement of herders and their livestock from other counties such as Tana River, Garissa, and Wajir to Lamu was also stopped until further notice.
Last year, the suspected Al-Shabaab unleashed a number of attacks that saw the government suspending the construction of the Lamu-Ijara-Garissa Lapsset corridor access road for two months before resuming in May 2022.
Five construction workers were killed and three others injured after the heavily armed Al-Shabaab militants ambushed a site in the Majengo area of the Boni forest.
The assailants also burnt down construction vehicles and several motorcycles belonging to casual labourers.
Apart from the 257km Lamu-Ijara-Garissa stretch, the project also comprises the 113km Hindi-Bodhei-Basuba-Kiunga road and the 83km Ijara-Sanghailu-Hulugho section, all of which cut across the terror-prone Boni forest region.
