3 teachers killed, 1 child injured as al-Shabab strikes NE Kenya

Three teachers were killed and one child injured after Somali extremist group al-Shabab attacked a school and a police camp in Garissa county in northeast Kenya early Monday, according to a senior Kenyan police officer.

"This morning at around 02:00 hrs, suspected armed al-Shabab militia attacked Kamuthe primary school, Kamuthe police post, a telecommunications mast and murdered three teachers," Inspector-General of Police Hilary Mutyambai said in a statement.

Police in Garissa said a child was injured after being hit by a stray bullet, while female teachers and nurses at the institution were spared after being identified by the suspected militants.

Mutyambai noted that the gunmen later burned down a police patrol base, before destroying a Safaricom mast located at a local market.

"A combined security multi-agency team is combing the area in pursuit of the attackers," the officer added.

"It's true al-Shabab militants butchered our three teachers. They were targeting male teachers; they spared the female teachers," Garissa county Director of Education Khalif Isack told Xinhua.

A number of civilians and security personnel have already died as a result of the group's attacks, which often include ambushes or the planting of explosives on roads in the northeast of the country, particularly in the counties of Mandera and Garissa.