Eight Kenyan police have been killed in a roadside bomb explosion near the border with Somalia.

The blast came on the same day two deadly car bombs rocked Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

All attacks were claimed by Somali Islamist insurgents al-Shabab, who also kidnapped three Kenyan police reservists on Friday from the same area, in Wajir district in northeast Kenya.

Police spokesman Charles Owino said the vehicle that was hit by the roadside bomb was carrying 11 policemen. A local official said eight were killed.

“Eight bodies were found and taken to Wajir. Two were rescued, but they are in critical condition,” said Muhumed Ali Gedi, a member of the local community security team from Wajir who witnessed the rescue mission.

Kenyan military forces have occupied part of southern Somalia along the border since 2011.

The Kenyans, along with allied Somali militia, wrested control of the territory from al-Shabab jihadists after a spate of kidnappings on Kenyan soil.

Al-Shabab is fighting the weak, UN-backed Somali government and its international allies in a quest to impose strict Islamic law.

-AAP