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Masked gunmen attack university in eastern Kenya Masked gunmen attack university in eastern Kenya
(about 1 hour later)
Masked gunmen stormed a university campus in eastern Kenya on Thursday, setting off explosions and exchanging gunfire with security forces for several hours. Five masked gunmen stormed a university campus in eastern Kenya on Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding many others, police said.
It is believed the attackers could have taken hostages after killing two guards, police and media reports said. Police who encircled the campus at the university in Garissa were joined by Kenyan soldiers as the standoff continued over several hours, Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper and Capital FM radio station reported. Students are believed to trapped inside.
Police who encircled the campus at the university in Garissa were joined by Kenyan soldiers as the standoff continued over several hours, Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper and Capital FM radio station reported. Reporters at the scene said students who escaped said the gunmen had gone on a killing spree.
A policewoman at the scene told Reuters two security guards at the campus had been killed and the gunmen were likely to have taken hostages because many students remain trapped inside the campus. #BREAKING: Some of students who escaped #Garissa uni college attack report of warzone situation where gunmen stormed & went on killing spree
A policewoman told Reuters the gunmen were likely to have taken hostages because many students remain trapped inside the campus.
“Two guards who were manning the gate at the university have been killed,” she said. “We can hear gunshots from inside the compound but at this point we can’t tell who is shooting at who or what.”“Two guards who were manning the gate at the university have been killed,” she said. “We can hear gunshots from inside the compound but at this point we can’t tell who is shooting at who or what.”
The BBC’s Bashkas Jugsoda’ay was on the scene and said that the gunmen stormed the campus at 4am local time. Fighting had continued since then.The BBC’s Bashkas Jugsoda’ay was on the scene and said that the gunmen stormed the campus at 4am local time. Fighting had continued since then.
Some students had managed to escape from the university, which he estimated has 500 students.Some students had managed to escape from the university, which he estimated has 500 students.
Kenya’s northern and eastern regions, which border Somalia, have been most affected by attacks blamed on al-Qaida-linked al-Shabaab Islamists from Somalia. They have vowed retribution against Kenya for sending its troops to Somalia. Kenya’s National Police Service said in a written statement that armed attackers forced their way onto the campus by shooting at guards, triggering a “fierce shootout” with police guarding student hostels.
The statement, which did not mention a death toll, said police and members of other security agencies were “engaged in an elaborate process of flushing out the gunmen from the hostels.”
Official report of current status vide Garissa attack. Thank you for your support. pic.twitter.com/I08RUALlFG
Kenya’s northern and eastern regions, which are near the Somali border, have suffered many attacks blamed on al-Qaida-linked Somali Islamist group, al-Shabab,
Al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia to fight the militants. Kenya sent its troops there in 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants following cross-border attacks.
Garissa is 150km from Somalia. The streets of the township were close to empty after the gunmen attacked.
#Kenya update: empty streets at #Garissa township as Univ College under attack. 2 killed, 30 injured. "@maandeeq254 pic.twitter.com/totqwbu3Vx
Last month, al-Shabab 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.
Al-Shabab carried out large-scale attacks in Mandera last year. The militants hijacked a bus and singled out 28 non-Muslims forcing them to lie on the ground before shooting them dead. Ten days later, 36 non-Muslim quarry workers were killed by the extremists.
Police statistics show that 312 people have been killed in al-Shabab attacks in Kenya from 2012 to 2014. Thirty-eight people were killed and 149 wounded in Garissa in the same period, according to police statistics.