Heavily armed Islamist militants took over a central Somali town Sunday and killed two British and two Kenyan teachers, the Associated Press reports. It appears that three of the victims are women and the fourth victim is reported to be a Somali man with British citizenship, returned to his hometown in order to build a school.

Insurgents loyal to Al Shabaab, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, shot the four people in an assault at the Hakab Private English School in the central Somali town of Beladwayne. “Local people are terrified because people who are involved in educating our people were killed last night,” local resident Nur Muse told Reuters.

Another Beladwayne resident, Abdi-qani Hashi, mentioned that the insurgents arrived late at night and burned the governor’s house.

Al Shabaab - also known as the Mujahedeen Youth Movement – is described by the U.S. as a “violent and brutal extremist group with a number of members affiliated with al-Qaeda.” It seems that the group became known for raids on Somali cities, as the violence is part of a dispute in central Somalia between Islamist militia and government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers. Al Shabaab controlled the capital of Mogadishu and much of central and southern Somalia up to 2006. According to the AP, the Islamists regrouped in Eritrea, Ethiopia's principal enemy.

Four other people were killed and 16 injured late Sunday in the southern town of Merka, when gunmen threw a grenade in to a cinema where hundreds of young people were watching a Hollywood movie.

The attacks on foreigners ascended in recent months but the hostages are usually released unharmed after several negotiations. 30 mainly French hostages, who were kidnapped along their luxury yacht “Le Ponant” off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, were recently released after the owners of the ship paid a ransom in order to obtain the freedom. French authorities arrested six members from the gang of pirates.