Wajir bus attack mastermind not a teacher, Knut official says

A Knut official in Wajir County has dismissed reports that the mastermind of the bus attack that left 11 people dead was a local primary school head teacher.

Mr Noor Bardad, the Wajir Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, said the reports are false and baseless, and aimed at tarnishing the image of teachers in the county.

"I wish to dismiss a story in one of the newspapers that a local head teacher was behind the terror attack on a passenger bus between Kutulo and Wargadud in Wajir," Mr Bardad told the Nation.

'NO RECORD'

The report stated that a head teacher named Mohammed Hassan Hussein led a group of Al-Shabaab militants in carrying out the attack on December 6.

The assailants killed 11 people, including eight police officers, and left at least six people injured, in the ambush at Elram.

It added that the school head fled to Somalia after security personnel were deployed to the area.

But Mr Bardad said: "I can confirm that there is no head teacher, deputy head teacher, teacher or even retired teacher named Mohammed Hassan Hussein, who has ever taken a role in Wajir."

THREAT

Mr Bardad said the report creates fear and mistrust in local and non-local teachers stationed in Wajir.

He threatened to take legal action should the newspaper fail to withdraw the story and apologise in two weeks.

The official further said that when schools reopen in January, education stakeholders will hold demonstrations against attacks on non-locals.

Mr Bardad said they did not take action immediately to allow investigators to do their work.

He noted that they later confirmed that the suspect was not a teacher as reported.

OTHER REPORTS

Interviews with several security agents revealed that the identities of those who staged the attack had not yet been established.

A senior security official, who sought anonymity, told the Nation that initial reports suggested a teacher may have been involved but they later could not establish this.

The source added that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) also denied knowledge of such an individual.

"The rumour was that he was a former primary school teacher but when we looked into this, we couldn't find anybody by that name," said the official.

"We think the suspect worked as an untrained teacher some years back but we couldn't  find any record of him."

The source said investigators also could not find the suspect's contact details or his family.

BUS CREW

Authorities say the attackers likely worked with sympathisers.

It is also suspected that the bus driver and conductor of the Medina bus that was ambushed -- Musa Hussein Ramadhan and Sadiq Abdullahi Isack -- had a hand in the attack.

In a court ruling, the two were detained for 30 days for police to finish investigations.

The case will be mentioned on January 12, 2020.