16 February 2018•Update: 19 February 2018
By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI, Kenya
Three teachers are confirmed dead after Somali-based al-Shabaab terrorists attacked a primary school in northeastern Kenya early Friday, police confirmed.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group operating in the Horn of Africa is said to have entered the Qarsa school in Wajir County through the porous Kenya-Somali border, some 175 kilometers (109 miles) from the town.
“We’re not sure what their motive was, but they attacked the school early in the morning, killing three teachers and wounding a couple of others, who are suffering from gunshot wounds,” a senior police officer from the area told Anadolu Agency on the phone.
“The militants planted improvised explosives on the road leading to the school, making it hard for ambulances and our teams to reach the place faster,” said the officer, who asked not to be named due to restrictions to speaking to the media.
Speaking to Kenya’s Daily Nation online, Wajir County police commander Mohamed Sheikh said: “I can confirm that one of our vehicles that was responding to the attack was partly hit by an IED that had been buried along the route by the group, but all our officers are in good condition.”
Al-Shabaab has carried out numerous attacks in Kenya calling for the East African nation to withdraw its troops from Somalia, where it is serving as part of an African Union force. Their bloodiest attack took place in April 2015, when they killed more than 140 students from Garissa University in northern Kenya.
