A senior police officer was Sunday evening shot and killed by gunmen in Kapedo area, Turkana county in an ongoing standoff between security officials and suspected bandits.
Three other officers were shot and wounded in the attack that happened as the officers led a convoy of cars and responded to a distress call.
The deceased was a deputy head of operations at the General Service Unit in Nairobi and is a superintendent of police by rank.
His colleagues and police headquarters said their Land Cruiser was ambushed as he led an armored personnel carrier to a scene where his other colleagues were under siege.
Other reports said there were at least three civilians who were killed in the same area in the drama.
Gunmen have in the past week laid a siege in the area causing a standoff for almost five days.
On Sunday, they had laid a siege on a team officers from the Rapid Deployment Unit when the ambush happened in Ameyen area.
Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai said an operation to get those behind the incident was ongoing.
He did not reveal much on the incident.
Other officers said troops of police had been mobilized and sent to the area to hunt down the gunmen believed to be from the area.
Last week, the gunmen had laid a siege on a school prompting an operation in the area.
They were reacting to ongoing security operations in the region to get rid of bandits stealing and robbing cattle.