3 Christian Teachers in Kenya Executed by Al-Shabaab Militants

Three Christian teachers were murdered Monday morning in Kenya during an attack on a primary school believed to have been carried out by the Somalia-based, al-Qaeda-linked extremist faction Al-Shabaab.

Kenya’s National Police Service confirmed in a post on Twitter that three teachers were killed when suspected Al-Shabaab militants attacked the school as well as a police post and telecommunications mast in the town of Kamuthe in Garissa County around 2 a.m.

As Al-Shabaab has conducted other deadly attacks in the Garissa area in recent years targeting the Christian community, the United States-based nonprofit persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern reports that the three teachers were Christian.

ICC named the deceased instructors as Caleb Mutua, Titus Ushindi, and Samuel Muthui Kyonzu. Also, ICC reports that a fourth victim named Joshua Mutua survived with serious leg injuries.

Citing a police report, The Associated Press notes that one Muslim teacher at the school was abducted while the life of a female nurse was spared by the assailants.

Robert Kibutu, a teacher who lives outside of the school’s residential area, told ICC that his fellow teachers were fatally shot by an unknown number of suspected Al-Shabaab militants.

“We are sad and at the same time scared because we are targeted for being non-local government workers that belong to the Christian faith,” Kibutu was quoted as saying.

According to The Daily Nation, the Somalia-based terrorist group is responsible for carrying out more than 10 attacks in northern and coastal Kenya in the last five weeks, killing 25 civilians.

Earlier this month, four students were killed when militants attacked the Saretho Primary School in Dadaab Sub-County.

Al-Shabaab has carried out several attacks against schools. After two teachers were killed in 2018, nearly 250 schools were closed down in Wajir County.