According to local police chief David Nyabuto, a boy who had previously been suspended from the school stormed the premises with two armed men.
"The suspect stormed the school with two of his accomplices, looking for the head teacher and a student he had earlier fought with," Nyabuto told dpa. When they could not find them, they started firing indiscriminately on students.
The incident took place in the town of Lokichogio, located some 93 kilometres from the Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya's second-largest,which hosts more than 185,000 refugees mostly from neighbouring South Sudan.
More than 20 students were injured in the early-morning incident, with six being airlifted to a hospital in the city of Eldoret, according to Turkana county governor Josephat Nanok. Several others were taken to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital at
nearby Kakuma refugee camp.
A staff member at the IRC general hospital in Kakuma told dpa that two girls had also been raped in the incident.
"The number could be higher as we suspect some students could be reluctant in reporting the matter," said Charles Ssekwata, senior coordinator at the IRC hospital.
Police chief Nyabuto said that the boy belongs to the Toposa ethnic group from South Sudan, while the boy he had fought with was from the Kenyan Turkana ethnic group. The suspect had been arrested, but his two accomplices had managed to escape.
Injured people are being taken to hospital after tha attack. Picture courtesy: Kahawa Tungu
Five students and a night guard have been confirmed dead after an ambush in the early hours of Saturday on a high school in Northern Kenya.
