Suspected militants kidnap teachers in northern Kenya

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Gunmen suspected of belonging to Somali terror group al-Shabaab stormed a Kenyan school and abducted three teachers on Thursday.

The school is in Hagadera refugee camp in Garissa County, northeastern Kenya.

The news has sent panic among Hagadera aid workers and residents.

Northeastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh told Anadolu Agency by phone that Kenyan police had managed to respond to calls from locals and were working to rescue the kidnapped teachers.

Saleh said the Kenyan military was working with the Somali National Army to free the kidnapped Kenyan teachers, who are thought to have been taken across the border into Somalia.

The Hagadera refugee camp is part of the Dadaab refugee complex which houses over 300,000 Somali refugees and is said to be the biggest such camp in the world.

Due to its close proximity to the porous Kenya-Somali border, the Dadaab refugee camp has been a target for the al-Qaeda affiliate.

Kenya has accused the refugees of harboring terrorists who on 3 April 2015, killed more than 140 students at Garissa University.

Kenya has vowed to close the camp later this year and send the refugees back to Somalia.