Terror scare at Kitui Teachers Training College leaves 11 students injured

Kitui, Kenya: Eleven students at the Kitui Teachers Training College were Monday night injured in a stampede caused by barking dogs at the institution.

‘’The students imagined the dogs were barking at terrorists, who had raided their college, forcing them to jump from their hostels to “safety”, police said.

One of the students sustained serious injuries.

County CID boss Shem Nyamboki said the students panicked after hearing the dogs bark outside their hostels and tried to escape.

“There was nothing at all. They imagined they were under attack and jumped off from their hostels to the ground after which 11 students were injured,” he said.

He added that some students jumped from the third floor of their hostels.

“Many escaped without injuries. When we arrived, we established that some dogs barked and some of the students thought they were making distress calls,” he added.

Since Sunday night, the town has been awash with false terror alerts. This was after police responded to false reports that strangers had been spotted near Zombe Girls in Kitui County.

Police rushed to a nearby forest and shot at the air to provoke any response but there was none.

“When people heard the gunshots, they thought there was an exchange of fire. We want to assure the locals there is no cause for panic and we are on top of things,” said Nyamboki.

And following the fears of attacks, some schools have been closed temporarily, police revealed.

Police patrols have been beefed up in the area as part of efforts to assure locals of safety.

The stampede came almost a month after a similar incident at the University of Nairobi’s Kikuyu Campus, in which one student died and more than 100 others wounded.