Refugee student lynched after killing 7 persons in Kenyan School

An expelled refugee student shot dead six of his former schoolmates and a security guard at his school in northern Kenya on Saturday, and was then himself lynched by a furious mob, officials said.

The attack took place at a school in the remote town of Lokichogio in Kenya’s Turkana region, close to the border with war-torn South Sudan. At least six other students were flown to hospital with bullet wounds.

The assailant was a 17-year-old from South Sudan – one of the thousands of refugee children who have been living in Kenya and going to school there since civil war broke out in their country in 2013. He was detained in possession of an AK-47, the basic assault rifle of choice in conflicts across Africa and the Middle East.

“The school was not attacked by bandits but an errant student on expulsion for disciplinary cases,” regional government official Wanyama Musyambohe told reporters.

Abraham Lojore, the suspect behind the killing at Lokichogio School was lynched by an angry mob soon after being arrested. The residents stormed the police station where he had been detained and grabbed him from the police.

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The regional coordinator said the suspects gained access to the school after shooting the school security guard killing him on the spot before proceeding to the dormitory where he killed five others students.

“The suspect was accompanied by three other suspects when they descended on the watchman and shot him dead. They proceeded to the boys’ dormitory where he shot dead five other students selectively,” said Musyambo. He added that eighteen other students sustained bullet injuries and have been rushed to different hospitals in Turkana and Uasin Gishu counties.

“The attack … is a painful reminder of the state of insecurity along the border,” tweeted Turkana county governor Josphat Nanok.

Close to 2 million people have fled South Sudan since fighting broke out in December 2013, sparking what has become Africa’s largest cross-border exodus since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Some 75,000 of them are now in Kenya.

Perennial conflicts have left the region awash with arms, which are smuggled across borders with relative ease.

www.primenewsghana.com/ Ghana News