Police officers killed in Kenya bandit attack

Four police officers have died during an ambush carried out by bandits in northern Kenya, officials said.

The police were shot as they attempted to recover more than 400 head of cattle stolen by rustlers believed to be from a neighbouring community.

The attack took place on Saturday in Baragoi, in Samburu County.

A police spokesman in Rift Valley Province said the officers were ambushed by a militia from the Turkana ethnic community.

"The officers were in a team pursuing stolen cattle when they were ambushed," a senior officer, who did not wish to be named, told Agence France-Presse.

A similar attack, in which 12 people were killed, took place nearby two weeks ago, Kenyan media reports.

The two tribes frequently steal cattle from each other and fight over grazing land and watering points.