Mombasa - A Kenyan official says one person has died and three police officers are wounded after a group of men armed with machetes and bows attacked a coastal police post to steal guns.

Kutswa Olakha, the county commissioner for Kwale, says 10 men chanting "God is great" in Arabic attacked the post early on Friday.

No group has claimed responsibility, but initial suspicion has fallen on a secessionist group called the Mombasa Republican Council that wants the coastal region to secede from Kenya, claiming marginalisation.

Authorities also suspect it could an Islamic extremist group.