Sources: news.com.au
Terrifying ... Al-Shabab gunmen have seized Christian hostages at a Kenya university near the border with Somalia. Picture: AP Source: AP
MASKED gunmen from Somalia’s Shebab Islamist group have massacred at least 147 Kenyan students in a daylong college campus siege, the deadliest attack in the country since US embassy bombings in 1998.
Hurling grenades and firing automatic rifles, the gunmen stormed the university in the north-eastern town of Garissa as students were sleeping, shooting dead dozens before setting Muslims free and holding Christians and others hostage.
All four of the gunmen wore suicide vests packed with explosives, detonating themselves in huge blasts as the dramatic assault finally ended after some 16 hours.
Brutal ... paramedics help a woman who was injured during an attack by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab gunmen on the Moi University campus in Garissa. Picture: AFP /Carl de Souza Source: AFP
Hurling grenades and firing automatic rifles, the gunmen had stormed the university in the north-eastern town of Garissa at dawn as students were sleeping, shooting dead dozens before setting Muslims free and holding Christians and others hostage.
The government said at least 79 people were wounded in the assault near the lawless border with war-torn Somalia, several seriously, and there are fears the death toll may still rise.
In the final hour before darkness fell, Kenyan troops stormed a student dormitory where the gunmen were holed up as blasts and fierce gunfire rang out. Troops then continued to search the campus for any possible insurgents.
Is is by far the highest death toll in an attack on Kenyan soil by al-Shabab, the Islamic extremist group from neighbouring Somalia.
Under attack ... A Kenya Defence Forces soldier secures the area around the Garissa University college after Al-Shabab gunmen attacked. Source: AP Source: AP
‘Christians targeted’
The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab fighters, the same insurgents who carried out the Westgate shopping mall massacre in Nairobi in September 2013, when four gunmen killed at least 67 people in a four-day siege.
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP the gunmen had taken non-Muslims hostage, and that their mission had been “to kill those who are against the Shebab.”
About half of the university’s students are believed to have been Christian.
It was not clear if any of the students the Shebab said they had held were alive at the time of the final assault by troops. However, officials said over 500 students had been accounted for.
Most of those killed were students but two police officers, one soldier and two watchmen are among the dead.
No Australians registered at Garissa
Officials at the Australian High Commission in the capital Nairobi are working to determine whether any Australians were victims of the massacre.
No Australians are registered as being in Garissa.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said its recently upgraded travel advice for Kenya remains as is.
In a joint statement, the opposition’s leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said the attack was especially abhorrent because it targeted a university.
“Everyone deserves an education free from fear and violence,” they said on Friday.
“It is a fundamental human right.”
Wounded ... a victim of the attack on a Kenyan university, arrives at the Kenyatta hospital. Picture: AFP/Simon MainaSource: AFP
“Kenya is at war with Somalia,” Rage said, referring to the thousands of Kenyan troops in Somalia as part of an African Union military mission.
Soldiers with tanks were deployed around the campus.
The university is near the lawless border with war-torn Somalia. The sprawling campus on the outskirts of town has both teaching areas as well as residential blocks.
“We are mopping up the area,” Interior Minister Joseph Nkaiserry told reporters.
Kenya’s national disaster operations centre has since said the siege had “ended with all four terrorists killed”.
It is the worst attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi by Al-Qaeda, when 213 people were killed by a huge truck bomb.
Emergency service ... A paramedic holds his hand out as he helps a student who was injured during an attack by Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab gunmen on Garissa University campus. Source: AFP Source: AFP
’Strapped with explosives’
Kenya’s interior minister says the four Islamic extremist gunmen who attacked a college campus had strapped themselves with explosives.
Joseph Nkaissery said when Kenyan officers shot at the four, the attackers exploded “like bombs.” He said shrapnel from the explosions injured officers.
“The terrorists, 90 per cent of the threat has been eliminated ... we have been able to confirm that four terrorists have been killed,” Mr Nkaiserry added, saying that troops were scouring the campus as the total number of gunmen was not known, but that the main operation was over.
‘Gunmen shot indiscriminately’
A $215,000 ($280,000) bounty was offered for the capture of alleged Shebab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher believed to now be in Somalia and said to be the mastermind behind the Garissa attack.
The garrison town is around 150 kilometres west of Somalia and has been targeted in the past by militants from the Shebab.
Former teacher ... a bounty was offered for the capture of alleged Shebab commander Mohamed Mohamud. Picture: AFP/ Kenya Interior Ministry Source: AFP
Police chief Joseph Boinet said “the gunmen shot indiscriminately” after storming the compound.
The sprawling campus on the outskirts of town has both teaching areas as well as residential blocks.
The university has several hundred students from different parts of Kenya, and the first bodies of some of those killed were flown to Nairobi late Thursday for families to collect later today, the start of the Easter weekend, a major holiday in the country.
Attack ... Kenyan police officers take cover outside the Garissa University College during an attack by gunmen in Garissa, Kenya. Picture: AP Source: AP
Senseless, barbaric, heinous
A dawn until dusk curfew has been imposed on several northern and eastern Kenyan districts for two weeks.
Kenya has been hit by a wave of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on sympathisers of the Shebab and sometimes aimed at police targets, since the army crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to attack Islamist bases.
A series of foreign travel warnings in response to the threat have crippled Kenya’s economically important tourism industry.
On Wednesday, just hours before the Garissa attack began, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Kenya “is as safe as any country in the world.” On Thursday, he offered condolences to those killed but said security forces had made the “appropriate deployment to the affected area.”
However, he also ordered the “urgent” enrolment of a planned 10,000 police recruit boost, warning Kenya had “suffered unnecessarily due to shortage of security personnel.”
International figures condemned the attack. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for those responsible to “be swiftly brought to justice.” British Minister for Africa James Duddridge called the killings “senseless” and “barbaric”, while US ambassador Robert Godec said the slaughter was “heinous”.
Shelter ... students of the Garissa University College take shelter in a vehicle after fleeing from an attack. Picture: APSource: AP
Accounted for ... students gather and watch from a distance outside the Garissa University College. Picture: AP Source:AP
Kenya’s government has been under fire since the Westgate attack. In June and July last year Shebab gunmen killed close to 100 people in a series of attacks on the town of Mpeketoni and nearby villages.
In November, the Shebab claimed responsibility for holding up a bus outside Mandera town, separating passengers according to religion and murdering 28 non-Muslims. Ten days later 36 non-Muslim quarry workers were also massacred in the area
Donations ... local residents donate blood at Garissa hospital. Picture: AP Source: AP
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