Three Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers were on Friday pronounced dead after a military truck they were travelling in overturned along the Elwak-Kotulo-Wajir road in Mandera County.
Several others who were travelling in the truck were also airlifted to Nairobi for further treatment after they suffered serious injuries.
The lorry is said to have been one of three that were traveling to Mandera from Wajir county when the incident occurred.
[caption caption="File image of a military ambulance"]
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Mandera South Deputy County Commissioner Daniel Bundotich confirmed the incident stating: "The bodies of the three soldiers and the injured have since been airlifted to Nairobi."
Mr Bundotich also dismissed reports that the officers had been attacked with explosives.
"It was an accident and not a terrorist attack," he stated.
Following a spike in terror attacks in the region, the government advised travellers to avoid using public transportation in the region.
The KDF recently destroyed hide-outs in Boni Forest believed to be training grounds for the Al Shabaab terror group.
"They were camps formed by the terrorists as they planned to conduct attacks in various parts of Lamu," Boni Enclave Campaign director Joseph Kanyiri confirmed.
A report by United Nations (UN) monitors in November accused KDF soldiers attached to the African Union Mission (AMISOM) troops of facilitating the illegal export of charcoal by the outlawed group.
The report, however, vindicated some regiments in parts of Somalia who have enforced the ban. The charcoal business is said to be one of the major sources of funding for Al Shabaab.
"AMISOM, whose Kenyan Defence Forces contingents remain deployed at the ports of Kismayu and Buur Gaabo, has neither assisted the Somali authorities in implementing the charcoal ban nor facilitated Monitoring Group access to charcoal exporting ports," the report read in part.
[caption caption="File image of Al Shabaab militia"]
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