Kenyan police launch manhunt for 2 suspects as college is closed

Kenyan police on Sunday launched a major manhunt for two suspected terrorists who are believed to be on a mission to kill students of local medical college in Western region.

Migori County police commander, David Kirui has as a result ordered the Migori Teachers Training College (MTTC) indefinitely closed after receiving information of a possible terrorist attack on the institution.

"We are on high alert after receiving information of a possible terrorist attack at the institution. We have moved to secure the college because we don't want a replica of the Garissa University massacre," Kirui told Xinhua by telephone.

Kirui said that MTTC Principal Mary Claire Indire alerted the police after two young men who could neither speak in Kiswahili nor English gained access to the school compound.

The police were alerted that strangers had gone into the institution.

"We are asking the public to help us with information that will lead to the arrest of the strangers," he said. Panic and confusion marred the Institution paralyzing ongoing lectures.

There were a total of 200 in-service teachers who are doing the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and the Special Education courses at the institution.

The students left home on Sunday at 3pm. Migori TTC has more than a 1000 students. However, the regular students are on long holiday.

The local police commander urged the colleges and schools management in Migori County to take necessary measures to ensure security of the learning in the region.

He said all market, supermarkets and public places have been marked as potential hot spots.

Western Kenya has not suffered a terrorist attack in the past but the latest security fears have caused panic in the hitherto peaceful region.

The closure of the institution comes barely a day after Garissa Medical Training College was shut after the government failed to guarantee security to both students and staff.

The institution's principal Omar Osman had earlier told journalists that Garissa County Commissioner in the North eastern region said the government has no security personnel to be deployed to the College.

Osman said that he cannot hold the students at ransom considering the massacre at Garissa University College where 148 people were killed by Al-Shabaab militia on April 2, 2015.

The Western Kenya has never been terrorist attack and the scare at Migori TTC has made police to be on high alert at the borders of Kenya and Tanzania and in Lake Victoria where immigrants use to gain entry into the Country.

Education stakeholders have decried the slow response by the government to beef security in schools and Colleges.

Zablon Awange, chairman of Kenya Union of Post primary Education Teachers Kisumu County chairman called on the government to provide more security personnel in failure to which the union will call a nationwide strike.