Islamo-Nazi's everywhere

Kenyan gunman kills police, takes hostages

A suspected al-Shabaab member has tried to escape a police station in Kenya by grabbing a gun and killing several officers. The authorities sent in an "elite" team to confront the shooter and rescue the hostages.

The man was killed in the shootout with the commando team, Kenyan officials said on Thursday.

"The siege has finally ended," regional government coordinator John Musiambu told reporters at the scene.

One of the officers in the rescue squad was wounded, Musiambu added.

The shooter was suspected of recruiting for the terror group al-Shabaab, which is based in neighboring Somalia, according to a Reuters police source. He reportedly killed at least five people while trying to escape a police station in the western Kenyan town of Kapenguria.

Police said the shooter snatched a gun from a guard and opened fire. The officers then surrounded the building, which also houses a number of other inmates.

"His attempts to escape were thwarted by quick arrival by other officers," said Kenya's police chief Joseph Boinnet.

Another police station attacked

The suspected terrorist took several people hostage. However, the government had flown in a special "elite" team from Nairobi to "bring the stand-off to an end," Boinnet said.

None of the prisoners were injured in the stand-off or the subsequent raid, according to the police.

The al-Shabaab jihadists have repeatedly targeted Kenya during recent years, after Nairobi sent in troops to Somalia to curb the terror threat.

Also on Thursday, al-Shabaab militants attacked a different police station in the east of Kenya, but the attack was repulsed, Boinnet said.