(Bloomberg) -- Kenyan authorities begun investigating a police shooting that left a widely-known Pakistani journalist dead, reigniting debate about security operations in the East African country.

Arshad Sharif, 50, was shot on Sunday by officers after the vehicle he was in allegedly run through a roadblock instead of stopping to be checked, according to a police statement. The car matched the description of one that was reported stolen and the officers were trailing at the time, the police said.

The “vehicle came upon the police barrier which they drove through. It is then that they were shot at,” according to the statement. “Authorities are currently investigating the incident for appropriate action.”

The brother of Sharif was in the car, the police said without giving details of his condition. Sharif’s wife, Javeria Siddique, confirmed on her Twitter account that he was killed in Kenya.

Sharif’s death comes days after newly-elected President William Ruto ordered the disbandment of a crack police unit that he said was engaged in extra-judicial killings.

The police didn’t give further details about the journalist or what he was doing in Kenya before he was shot near Magadi, a rural mining town close to the Tanzanian border, about 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) from the capital Nairobi. Sharif, who was critical of Pakistani’s powerful military, left the country nearly two months ago, Aljazeera reported on Monday.

Groups including the Foreign Press Association, Africa and International Human Rights Foundation issued statements demanding credible investigations.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority, an agency which probes death and injuries from police action, dispatched a separate team to start investigating the incident, its chairperson, Anne Makori said. The IPOA is currently handling 112 cases of alleged enforced disappearances, abductions and murders, according to Makori.

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