A Kenyan police officer was seriously injured on Tuesday in a cross-boarder attack blamed on the Somalli islamist group Al-Shabaab. The attack occured along the Kenya-Somali boarder at a place called Harehare, near Liboi Town.

Liboi is one of the many bparder towns that have been feeling the brunt of the group that has claimed links with the Al-Qaeda terror group. The attack comes barely a week after the group claimed responsibility for the twin bombing in Kampala, Uganda, that claimed over 75 lives.

In the Tuesday incident, the injured officer was in the company of his colleague, with whom they were patrolling the area at around 10:30 am local time, whan they came under fire from the suspected militia. They returned fire and there ensued a brief battle before the group retreated towards Dobley town which is under the Al-Shabaab control. Unconfirmed reports indicated that two of the militia fighters were killed. The officer suffered gunshot wounds to the left leg.

The incident comes ahead of a planned visit by Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki’s visit to Garissa town to drum up support for the proposed new constitution that is the subject of a referendum slated for the 4th of August this year.

Witnesses told this reporter that convoys of trucks full of troops and police officers drawn from the Geberal Service Unit and Kenya Army. General Service Unit is a paramilitary squad trained in Israel and Bulgaria, whose commando skills are among thew best on the continent.