KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan police official says five madrassas across Uganda have been shut down over allegations they are training students to become extremists.

Patrick Onyango, a spokesman for police in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, said Monday that some Islamic schools were training children to become fighters in a rebel group opposed to Uganda's government.

He said three of the schools ordered shut are located in Uganda's central region while two of them are in the east.

Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper reported Monday that a senior Ugandan Muslim leader, Kassim Nakibinge, criticized the police's action, saying Islamic schools are being unfairly targeted.

Police link the madrassas to the Allied Democratic Forces, a Congo-based armed group whose fugitive Ugandan leader is wanted by Interpol.