Death toll in northern attack climbs to 55

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI-- The death toll in an attack by armed raiders on remote villages in the northern Kenyan district of Marsabit rose to 55 on Wednesday, the police said.

At least 20 of the dead were children killed in an attack on a school. Ten were raiders killed by Kenyan security forces in an exchange of gunfire.

The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) was on Wednesday sending a helicopter with an assesment team and an assortment of medicines to Marsabit district hospital, where 18 injured civilians were being treated, KRCS spokesman Anthony Mwangi said.