A blast has killed three Kenyan soldiers patrolling a road in the east of the country near the Somali border, the military said.

The al Qaeda-linked extremist group al Shabaab said on its website at least two Kenyan soldiers were killed and others wounded in a blast that targeted a convoy in a similar area on Tuesday, but it did not directly claim responsibility.

The patrol hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Tuesday morning on the road between Sankuri and Kiunga, a coastal town 12 km (7.5 miles) from the Somali border, the army said.

“Regrettably, three gallant soldiers succumbed to their injuries. These soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice,” the Kenya Defense Forces said in a statement released late on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Al Shabaab controls large swathes of southern and central Somalia and frequently makes cross-border attacks on military and civilian targets, which security analysts say are aimed at pressuring Kenya into withdrawing its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia.