Kenya university at least 147 killed by Islamist militants

[Anthea]

BBC News

At least 70 hostages have been killed in an attack by al-Shabab Islamist militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya, officials say.

At least 79 were injured while more than 500 students were rescued from the Garissa University College campus, disaster management officials said.

Interior Minster Joseph Nkaiserry said four of the attackers had been killed, and security operations were ongoing.

An overnight curfew has been issued in parts of the country.

Four counties near the Kenya-Somalia border, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and Tana River, would have dusk-to-dawn curfews imposed, disaster management officials said.

Nine students were critically injured and airlifted to the capital Nairobi for medical treatment, they added.

Attack as it happened.

More than 500 out of 815 students have now been accounted for, the interior ministry says.

Mr Nkaiserry said that "90% of the threat [had] been eliminated", but security forces were "mopping up the area" in case more gunmen were on the campus.

About five masked gunmen are said to have stormed the university early on Thursday morning.



1. Militants enter the university grounds, two guards are shot dead

2. Shooting begins within the campus

3. Students attacked in their classrooms while preparing for exams

4. Gunmen believed isolated in the female dormitories

5. Some students make an escape through the fence

Full Article - Photos - Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32169080

[Anthea]

New York Times

Shabab Attack on a Kenya University Kills 147, Officials Say
By ISMA’IL KUSHKUSH and RUKMINI CALLIMACHI



NAIROBI, Kenya — Gunmen attacked a university campus in northeastern Kenya early Thursday, clashing with guards, forcing their way into dormitories, taking hostages and singling out non-Muslims, the authorities said.

Kenya’s interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, said that 147 people had been killed, including four attackers. He contended that the deadly siege at the university had ended, and that security forces were carefully sweeping the campus for any remaining threats.

Kenyan security forces surrounded the campus of Garissa University College and clashed with the gunmen throughout the day, eventually cornering them in one dormitory, officials said.

Abdikadir Sugow, the spokesman for the Garissa county government, said the gunmen were seen wearing “combat gear,” including what appeared to be “either bulletproof vests or suicide bomb vests.”

The Shabab, an extremist group based in Somalia and affiliated with Al Qaeda, issued a statement through a radio station it controls claiming responsibility for the attack.

Full SHOCKING Article - Photos - Videos:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/world ... share&_r=0