At least 15 Christians killed in Kenya university attack.

At least 15 people have been killed and 65
wounded in an ongoing attack Thursday by
Somalia’s Islamist insurgents on a Kenyan
university, police sources and media reports
said. “Fifteen have died from the attack,” a
police source said, with Kenyan media
reporting the same number, including the
bodies counted at the mortuary and hospital in
the northeastern town of Garissa. The interior
ministry said one of the suspected gunmen
had been arrested as he tried to flee.
Shebab gunmen on Thursday seized Christian
hostages at a Kenya university near the border
with Somalia, in an pre-dawn attack that killed
at least 15 people and wounded scores more.
A spokesman for Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked
Shebab, told AFP the group was behind the
early morning assault on the university in
Garissa and had taken non-Muslims hostage.
“When our men arrived, they released the
Muslims. We are holding others hostage,” said
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud
Rage, without giving numbers. He said those
seized were Christians and added that “our
people are still there, they are fighting and
their mission is to kill those who are against
the Shebab.”
“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. Gunfire could still be heard
sporadically six hours after the attack began,
as Kenya’s interior ministry said the “attackers
have been cornered in one hostel.” Kenya’s
interior ministry also said “one suspected
terrorist” had been arrested attempting “to
flee scene”.
At least 15 people have been killed, according
to a police source and media reports, while
Kenya’s official National Disaster Operation
Centre said a further 65 had been injured,
many suffering from gunshot wounds. The
Kenya Red Cross, which is leading the
medical response to the attack, said there
were “an unknown number of student
hostages” and that “50 students have been
safely freed”.
Rage did not give details of casualties but said
“there are very many.” The town of Garissa is
around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of
Somalia and has in the past been targeted by
militants from the Shebab. “Gunmen forced
their way into Garissa University by shooting
at the guards manning the main gate at
around 5:30 am,” said Kenya Police Chief
Joseph Boinet. “The gunmen shot
indiscriminately while inside the university
compound.”
The sprawling campus, on the outskirts of the
garrison town, has both teaching areas as well
as residential blocks. The university has
several hundred students from different parts
of Kenya. The number of teachers and
students trapped inside the campus was
unclear as gunfire and explosions were heard
coming from the site. “Police… engaged the
gunmen in a fierce shootout, however the
attackers retreated and gained entry into one
of the hostels,” Boinet said, adding that
reinforcements had arrived and were “flushing
out the gunmen.”
- Attack ongoing -
A witness, Ahmed Nur, said he saw the bodies
of two university guards, shot by the attackers.
Kenya Red Cross, quoting local health
officials, said that 30 people had been taken
to hospital, “the majority” with gunshot
wounds. Kenya has been hit by a wave of
grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on
sympathisers of Somalia’s Shebab Islamist
fighters 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 attack in
Garissa began, President Uhuru Kenyatta said
Kenya “is safe as any country in the world”.
Kenya’s government has been under fire since
the September 2013 Shebab attack on the
Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which at
least 67 people were killed in a siege involving
just four gunmen and which lasted four days.
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 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.
Students in Garissa on Thursday reported
seeing up to four masked gunmen entering
the university compound before dawn. The
area surrounding ​​the university was sealed off
by the Kenya security forces and the army
called in.

Vanguard News.