Two police officers have been killed in an attack carried out by unknown gunmen on a police station in Kenya’s northern town of Mandera, near Somalia.

Regional police commander Charlton Mureithi said three people were also wounded in the attack, which was carried out at about 3:00 a.m. local time on Thursday.

Witnesses said the gunmen attacked the police station with a rocket propelled grenade and set it on fire before escaping.

More than ten vehicles were also burnt in the assault.

“No arrest has been made but we hope to catch up with them. They caused huge destruction,” Mureithi stated.


No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a day after a civilian was killed and four others injured in a similar attack in the northeastern town of Wajir.

The attacks occurred days after al-Shabab militants stormed a shopping mall in Nairobi and killed over 70 people and destroyed part of the complex.

On Wednesday, al-Shabab leader Ahmed Godane confirmed that the group was behind the attack on the mall in Nairobi, saying the raid was in retaliation for the Kenyan military’s invasion of southern Somalia in October 2011.

“Take your troops out or prepare for a long-lasting war, blood, destruction and evacuation,” Godane said in an audio message posted on a website linked to al-Shabab.

Kenya has more than 4,000 army soldiers in southern Somalia, where they have been battling al-Shabab since 2011.

The Kenyan troops are part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) that gets training and equipment from the United States.