Police question 4 students over threats to bomb school
Xinhua, May 13, 2015 Adjust font size:
Kenyan police are on Tuesday interrogating four students who had threatened to bomb a school in Isiolo county in eastern region.
Isiolo County Commissioner Wanyama Musiambo confirmed the arrest, saying the boys aged below 16 years were summoned by a teacher after they threatened their two deputy head teachers a day earlier.
"The boys have not been attending classes while their parents thought they were in school. Initial probe shows that they have been whiling away in town (Isiolo) watching movies in some dens and also visiting cyber café," Musiambo said.
He said the pupils wrote a note to the school describing the day that the supposed attack was to take place, an incident which prompted terror alert.
However, the government administrator warned that Somalia militants would attack St. Kizito Primary School on Tuesday but the police moved swiftly and arrested them on Monday evening and the investigating officers were making progress in their probe.
"We are interrogating these boys since they are engaging in a dangerous scheme. We must find out the real intentions of these boys," Musiambo said.
The latest incident comes after the authorities in the northern region have raised concerns over increased radicalization of youth in northern Kenya counties including Isiolo.
Isiolo is among the regions considered to be lush recruitment ground for the militia due to its proximity to Somalia and locals culture.
And following the incident and fears of attacks, some schools have closed on a temporary basis across the country due to terror threats.
It also came after 148 people died at the Garissa University College following an attack by the Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab.
The East African nation has been on a verge of terrorism threats by Islamists extremists allied to Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaida militia after Kenya forces took control of the insurgents' stronghold in Somalia.
The trend of the attacks particularly in northern Kenya, Nairobi and Mombasa which seemingly are well coordinated since few suspects have been arrested, has heightened worries among Kenyans. Endi