Are you Christian or Muslim? What Al-Shabaab gunmen asked Kenyan students as they went door to door during university massacre killing at least 15 and injuring 60
- Gunmen stormed the campus of Kenya's Garissa University in dawn raid
- At least 15 people have been killed and 60 others have been injured
- Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the latest terrorist atrocity in Kenya
- Government claims 280 students rescued while 615 are still missing
Al-Shabaab
terrorists interrogated students whether they were Christian or Muslim
as they went door-to-door during this morning's early morning massacre
at a Kenyan university, killing at least 15 people.
The
group raided the Garissa University campus shortly after 5am local
time, overwhelming guards and killing anyone the suspected of being a
Christian.
Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said that only 280 of the 815 students in the college have so far been accounted for.
Scroll down for video
Heavily armed soldiers are meeting outside the Garissa University as part of the major security operation
Kenyan police officers, pictured, take cover across from the University during the terrorist gun attack
Students fled the area, some of them in bare feet, after the al-Shabaab terrorists launched their attack
Kenyan security officials said one of the terrorists has been arrested after he tried to escape the compound.
Eye-witness Collins
Wetangula, the vice chairman of the student union, said he was
preparing to take a shower when he heard gunshots coming from Tana dorm,
which hosts both men and women, 150 meters (yards) away.
The campus has six dormitories and at least 887 students, he said.
The remaining terrorists have been cornered in one of the four remaining dormitories according to Kenyan security officials.
Pictured: The British children who were detained along with...
Four British children held trying to join ISIS in Syria:...
London sixth-form pupil, 18, appears in court accused of...
ISIS on Assad's doorstep: Terror group seizes refugee camp...
He
said that when he heard the gunshots he locked himself and three
roommates in their room. 'All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots
nobody was screaming because they thought this would lead the gunmen to
know where they are.
'The gunmen were saying sisi ni al-Shabaab (Swaihi for we are al-Shabaab).'
Mr Wetangula said he could hear the gunmen interrogating fellow students hiding inside their rooms about their religion.
He said: 'If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot. With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.'
The gunmen started to shoot rapidly and it was as if there was an exchange of fire, he said.
'The
next thing, we saw people in military uniform through the window of the
back of our rooms who identified themselves as the Kenyan military.'
The soldiers took him and approximately 20 others to safety.
As they were running, al-Shabaab snipers on top of a three-storey building attempted to gun them down.
He added: 'We started running and bullets were whizzing past our heads and the soldiers told us to dive.'
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi expressed its condolences over this morning's massacre in Garissa
Heavily armed police secured an outer perimeter as security forces prepared for a siege situation
Fellow student, Augustine Alanga, 21, described a panicked scene as gunshots rang out outside their dormitory.
He said he saw at least five heavily-armed terrorists wearing masks.
He said: 'I am just now recovering from the pain as I injured myself while trying to escape. I was running barefoot.'
He told journalists he crossed barbed-wire fencing to escape the massacre.
Mr Alanga said any students attending morning prayers at the university's mosque at 5.30am were not attacked.
Only 280 of almost 900 students have so far been accounted for according to Kenyan government sources
The Kenyan military has launched a major security operation and has detained one terrorist trying to escape
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for this latest massacre which has so far claimed 15 lives
It
is understood that some of the terrorists have taken sniper positions
and have been shooting police officers trying to retake the campus
One
policeman said: 'I have counted 14 bodies of dead people being carried
out of the campus by a Red Cross ambulance, and they include two of our
officers who were also killed
'We
are finding it difficult to access the compound because some of the
attackers are on top of a building and are firing at us whenever we try
to gain entry.'
A spokesman for al-Shabaab said it was claiming responsibility for the latest atrocity.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's 'military operations spokesman' said: 'We sorted people out and released the Muslims.
'There
are many dead bodies of Christians inside the building. We are also
holding many Christians alive. Fighting still goes on inside the
college.'
Kenyan
President Uhuru Kenyatta confirmed that a hostage situation had now
developed between his men and the remaining gunmen, who are holding the
students.
Troops have so far cleared three of the four dormitories.
President
Kenyatta said he was going to fast-track the recruitment of 10,000 new
police officers to tackle the al-Shabaab menace.
Just
last week, the Chief Security Officer at the University of Nairobi
feared an attack was imminent and issued a security warning - but it is
unclear whether the same information was relayed to Garissa officials.
Students ran for their lives as the terrorists launched their indiscriminate attack on the college campus
Masked gunmen stormed the Garissa University campus, in Kenya's north-east, earlier today
It's
believed the gunmen attacked in the early hours, 'during morning
prayers', setting off explosions and exchanging gunfire with security
services for several hours, Kenyan media and the Red Cross said.
Witness Milka Ndung'u told NTV that the gunfire was popping 'like fireworks' from about 5am local time.
Ms
Ndung'u said she and other students ran for their lives and took cover
in a nearby field, but when the gunmen took aim, they were forced to
flee their hiding spot.
Another student, Augustine Alanga, told CNN he too was woken by the shooting and looked out to see colleagues running for cover.
Musa
Yego said gunshots and explosions could be heard from a building on the
campus, which is surrounded by police and a military compound.
Soldiers and police have already managed to rescue some of the trapped students on the campus
The gunmen said they already released any students they believed were fellow Muslims
A
press release tweeted by Joseph Boinnet, the second Inspector General
of Police of Kenya, confirmed the shooting began at 5.30am when
attackers fired at guards at the main gate of the university.
'Police
officers who were at the time guarding the students' hostels heard the
gunshots and responded swiftly and engaged the gunmen in a fierce
shootout,' the statement from police reads.
'However the attackers retreated and gained entry in the hostels.
Police further stated 'they are currently engaged in an elaborate process of flushing out the gunmen from the hostels'.
Al-Shabab militants have previously vowed retribution against Kenya for sending troops to Somalia.
The
Somalia-based group has carried out several attacks in Garissa and
across Kenya, including the 2013 attack on an upscale shopping mall in
the capital Nairobi.
Kenya sent its troops into Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabaab militants following cross-border attacks.
Last
month, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for attacks in the county of
Mandera on the Somali border in which twelve people died.
Four of them died in an attack on the convoy of Mandera County Governor Ali Roba.
Police
statistics show that 312 people have been killed in al-Shabaab attacks
in Kenya from 2012 to 2014. Thirty-eight people were killed and 149
wounded in Garissa in the same period.
Some of the students did not have time to dress as they fled for their lives when faced by the gunmen
Officials fear that some of the students may have been taken hostage by the terrorist gunmen
Kenyan officials had warned that al-Shabaab had been suspected of planning a major assault on the college
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment