Highlights

Kapenguria police station attacker was rogue officer, not Islamist militant

Seven officers killed including six from the station and a member of the elite Recce Squad

A rogue officer who “went berserk” was responsible for an attack on a police station in western Kenya on Thursday in which seven people died, a police spokesman said.

Police had previously blamed the attack on a suspected recruiter for Somali militant group al Shabaab, who they said grabbed a gun from a guard while under arrest.

“The gunman … turned out to be a local police officer who for yet unknown reasons, went berserk and grabbed a firearm,” spokesman George Kinoti said in a statement late on Thursday.

The officer shot and killed six policemen before taking prisoners hostage at Kapenguria police station, officials said.kenya_kapenguria_map203

He was later shot dead by an elite police squad flown in from Nairobi. Local newspapers said a seventh officer, a member of the rescue team, was also killed.

Kinoti said police had opened an inquiry into the incident.

Reuters

~Wakenya Canada

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