NAIROBI, Kenya

Fifteen al-Shabaab militants hiding in a camp in Boni forest in Kenya's southeastern Garissa County were killed on Monday, police said.

In a statement on Tuesday, police said 15 terrorists were killed after being cornered by a multi-agency team tasked with conducting operations in the troubled Boni forest.

Two command and logistic bases of militants in Bodhei area in Lamu County were also destroyed in an operation, the statement said, adding rifles, explosives, bullets, military uniforms and communication equipment were also recovered.

Al-Shabaab has killed 13 people in night raids on villages and an attack on police this month.

“The group is suspected to be behind the recent series of attacks in Lamu,” the statement added.

According to the Kenyan military, al-Shabaab militants have set up camps and used the Boni forest to infiltrate Kenya due to its close proximity to the porous Kenya-Somalia border.

Following the killing of seven villagers by al-Shabaab terrorists on Jan. 2, Interior Minister Fred Matiangi declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the county.

On Jan. 7, four police officers on routine patrol were killed in an al-Shabaab attack in Lamu, along the East African coast.

Al-Shabaab terrorists have been targeting security officers patrolling key routes on the porous Kenya-Somali border.