Death toll four in attack on Kenya governor convoy, says official

[March 14, 2015]  ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - An attack by suspected Somali Islamist gunmen on a convoy of a Kenyan state governor killed three police officers and a regional elder, a regional official said on Saturday.

Gunmen attacked the convoy of Ali Roba, governor of Mandera in northern Kenya, on Friday. That region is often targeted by members of the militant al Shabaab group from neighboring Somalia.

Al Shabaab said on Friday it carried out an attack in the area against a military convoy and said four soldiers were killed. The Kenyan army said only the governor's convoy was attacked, not any military ones, but gave no precise death toll.

Mandera County Commissioner Alex Nkoyo said on Saturday that three police officers and a regional elder were killed.

Al Shabaab has launched many attacks inside Kenya, saying it will continue until Kenyan forces are withdrawn from Somalia, where they are fighting alongside other African forces against the Islamist group.

(Reporting by Noor Ali in Isiolo, Kenya; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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