Kenya bomb explodes while being planted

A Kenyan police official says an Islamic extremist died in Kenya's north when a roadside bomb he was planting exploded.

Suleiman Rashid, a senior officer in the northern town of Mandera, said on Saturday that officers on patrol came across five suspected members of Somalia's al-Shabaab extremist group planting a roadside bomb.

Rashid said the officers shot at the suspected rebels who panicked and detonated the bomb killing one insurgent while the others escaped.

Mandera has experienced several attacks in this month that officials attribute to a group that has splintered from al-Shabaab, who are allied to al-Qaeda, and have instead pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Al-Shabaab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight the Islamic extremists.