Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab is again threatening Kenya with more bloodshed.
fewer than 79 people were injured and 587 other were evacuated. The
four gunmen that carried out the attacked were killed by Kenyan security
forces.
Here are 8 things you need to know about the attack:
1. The Al Shabaab terrorists arrived the school at
about 5 am and killed 2 security guards and burst into a Christian
service and took hostages after which they headed to the hostels and
shot anyone in their way except Muslims. The attackers separated the
students, allowing Muslims to leave and took Christian hostages.
2. Garissa University College, which has 815
students, was established in 2011 and is the only public university in
the region. Garissa is about 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the border
with Somalia.
3. The death toll is the highest in a terror attack
on Kenyan soil since the U.S. Embassy was bombed in 1998. Over 200
people died in that attack in Nairobi.
4. According to the official Twitter account of
Kenya’s National Disaster Operation Centre, a total of 147 people were
killed. 79 people were reportedly injured and 587 people were evacuated.
5. The dangerously porous border between Somalia and
Kenya has made it easy for Al-Shabaab militants to cross over and carry
out attacks.
6. Sometime in March, the U.S. Embassy warned of
possible attacks zthroughout Kenya in the near-term after the reported
death of a key al-Shabaab leader, Adan Garaar. The warning said:
“Although there is no information about a specific location in Kenya for
an attack, U.S. citizens are reminded that the potential for terrorism
exists.”
7. The incident was said to be successful due to
police shortage and President Kenyatta has taken responsibility. I take
full responsibility for this directive. We have suffered unnecessarily
due to a shortage of security personnel. Kenya badly needs additional
officers, and I will not keep the nation waiting.”
8. The
19-year-old student, Cynthia Cheroitich, emerged as one of the
survivors of the gruesome massacre after she
hid in a wardrobe for 2 days.
kept asking for reassurance from the security forces they were not
Al-Shabaab before she could come out. She was given milk and rushed to
the Garissa hospital, where she is being observed before being given
counseling,’ a police officer said.
Ms
Cheroitich, who hid under a pile of clothes, told police officers that
she drank body lotion to survive because she was too terrified to open
the wardrobe doors.