The deputy county commissioner in Dadaab, Harun Kamau, on Wednesday said not less than five Kenyan paramilitary police met with untimely death when their vehicle struck a homemade landmine in Liboi, close to the eastern border with Somalia.

He said ‘‘It was an IED [improvised explosive device] attack and we have lost five police officers,’’  adding that, three others were injured.

The use of improvised explosive devices against police and military patrols in the border region is relatively common.

Over the past year, Shabaab insurgents, based in Somalia, have claimed several such attacks killing dozens of Kenyan police and soldiers.

Kamau said the officers from the General Service Unit were travelling in a police truck which was destroyed by the explosion.