Three Kenya Defence Forces soldiers were killed and seven others injured on 15 July when their patrol vehicle struck an improvised explosive device on the Kiunga-Sankuri road near Badaah in Lamu County, according to military and local authorities. The wounded were evacuated to a hospital in Kiunga while the site was secured by responding units. Lamu East Deputy County Commissioner George Kubai said a multi-agency operation has been launched to identify and apprehend those who planted the device. The coastal county, which borders Somalia’s Boni Forest, has suffered repeated roadside bombings that Kenyan officials blame on the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgency seeking to pressure Nairobi’s decade-long deployment in Somalia. The attack came hours after Somali military officers reported that Al-Shabaab fighters captured the strategic town of Tardo in central Hiiraan, forcing the displacement of more than 12,500 families and prompting preparations for a counter-offensive. Security analysts say the twin incidents underline the group’s ability to stage lethal strikes on both sides of the Kenya–Somalia border despite sustained regional military pressure.