Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed between five and seven police officers in Kenya. The incident occurred in Mangai, southern Kenya, when an armoured personnel on its way to refuel ran over a bomb.

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Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the incident, saying that seven police officers were killed, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

A police report quoted by the Associated Press said five officers had died and another two could not be traced.

Shabaab has claimed responsibility for similar attacks that have killed at least 17 police officers in Kenya in recent weeks.

The group, which aims to overthrow the Somali government and impose its own version of Islam in the country, often targets Kenya in retaliation for the Linda Nchi military operation. The operation saw the deployment of Kenyan troops to Somalia to drive out the militants in 2011.

In one of its deadliest attacks in Kenya, the militants killed 148 people at a university college in Garissa in 2015. The terrorists claimed the attack was carried out as the university was "on Muslim land colonised by non-Muslims".

Shabaab controlled Somalia's capital Mogadishu and the southern region of the country from 2006 until 2011, when it was defeated by African Union peacekeepers.

Earlier this year, Somalia's President, Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" Mohamed, declared war on Shabaab terrorists. He offered a 60-day amnesty period to militants to surrender and vowed to help them reintegrate into society.

The group, however, dismissed the declaration of war and rejected the offer of amnesty.

Kenya