A suspected extremist from the al-Shabab Islamist organization being held at a police station in western Kenya took the gun from a police officer and shot dead four officers before taking several other prisoners hostage.
Police have surrounded the building in Kapenguria and are currently working to end the stand-off and free the prisoners who were taken hostage, Kenyan Police Chief Joseph Boinnet said.
Boinnet said the man tried to escape after shooting the police officers, but his attempt was thwarted by other officers who quickly arrived on the scene.
The man who killed the police officers is suspected of recruiting for al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked group that operates out of neighboring Somalia.
Al-Shabab is responsible for several terrorist attacks in Kenya in recent years, which it says are a response to Kenyan troops sent to fight extremists in Somalia.
Earlier in the day Thursday, Boinnet said members of al-Shabab unsuccessfully attacked a police station in Kenya’s coastal region.
Boinnet said the police withstood the attack and killed several of the attackers, but he did not give an exact number of those dead.
voanews.com
