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| Brutal reality sets in for Kenyans after 'senseless' massacre at university | Brutal reality sets in for Kenyans after 'senseless' massacre at university |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The call came in just after 7am. | The call came in just after 7am. |
| Fred Musinai’s daughter, Elizabeth Namarone, told him that gunmen were going from room to room at her university hostel,shooting any students they identified as Christian on the spot. | Fred Musinai’s daughter, Elizabeth Namarone, told him that gunmen were going from room to room at her university hostel,shooting any students they identified as Christian on the spot. |
| “Ask mum to pray very hard,” she told her father. “These people are just killing us.” | “Ask mum to pray very hard,” she told her father. “These people are just killing us.” |
| Several hours later, the phone rang again. It was one of the gunmen, who told Musinai that he had just shot his 21-year-old daughter dead. | Several hours later, the phone rang again. It was one of the gunmen, who told Musinai that he had just shot his 21-year-old daughter dead. |
| Across Kenya on Friday, dozens of families were struggling to come to terms with the massacre committed by al-Shabaab, which targeted a college in Garissa, eastern Kenya, and left 148 Kenyans dead. | |
| Witnesses said the gunmen blasted their way into the university in the half-light of dawn on Thursday before staging a 12-hour siege. The Islamist extremist group then massacred students, almost all in their early 20s, with a combination of grenades and machine guns. | Witnesses said the gunmen blasted their way into the university in the half-light of dawn on Thursday before staging a 12-hour siege. The Islamist extremist group then massacred students, almost all in their early 20s, with a combination of grenades and machine guns. |
| Related: Al-Shabaab leader responsible for Garissa attack is Kenyan | Related: Al-Shabaab leader responsible for Garissa attack is Kenyan |
| Security sources said the bulk of the victims were girls, because the gunmen herded their hostages into the ladies’ hostel. Emergency response staff described scenes of carnage with bodies piled three-deep in parts. | |
| In a press conference on Friday, interior minister Joseph Nkaissery said that of 148 victims, six were members of the security forces. Four of the attackers were also killed, when security forces moved in after sunset. | |
| Vulnerable to retaliatory attacks | Vulnerable to retaliatory attacks |
| Kenya has endured a string of attacks since October 2011, when its troops joined a UN-backed African Union force that is battling the al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia. | |
| But unlike Uganda, which does not share a land border with Somalia, and Ethiopia, which boasts one of the most effective, if brutal security services in the region, Kenya was always more vulnerable to retaliatory attacks. | |
| Its police force is regularly ranked as the least-trusted institution in the country due to rampant bribe-taking. Immigration officials, too, have been accused of not doing enough to keep people who might pose a security threat out of the country. | Its police force is regularly ranked as the least-trusted institution in the country due to rampant bribe-taking. Immigration officials, too, have been accused of not doing enough to keep people who might pose a security threat out of the country. |
| On Friday, a backlash seemed to be brewing against the half-million-strong Somali refugee population in Kenya that often finds itself targeted by security swoops after major terror attacks. | |
| At a charged rally in Garissa, 150km from the border with Somalia, MPs from Kenya’s Somali communitydemanded the forceful repatriation of all displaced families back to Somalia. | At a charged rally in Garissa, 150km from the border with Somalia, MPs from Kenya’s Somali communitydemanded the forceful repatriation of all displaced families back to Somalia. |
| “We are asking the United Nations to take the refugees elsewhere because these attacks are planned in their camps,” said Garissa MP Aden Duale, who doubles as majority leader of the ruling party in parliament. “We will change the law to force this through if necessary.” | |
| Related: Kenya attack: 'There were screams and nobody knew if we would survive' | Related: Kenya attack: 'There were screams and nobody knew if we would survive' |
| Sharp questions also began to emerge about why Kenyan authorities had not done more to stop the killings despite the fact that foreign intelligence agencies, including the British, Australian and Canadian security services, had warned that an attack was imminent in Kenya. | Sharp questions also began to emerge about why Kenyan authorities had not done more to stop the killings despite the fact that foreign intelligence agencies, including the British, Australian and Canadian security services, had warned that an attack was imminent in Kenya. |
| Rashid Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, told the Guardian the security forces should have done more to ensure the students’ safety. | Rashid Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, told the Guardian the security forces should have done more to ensure the students’ safety. |
| “It has been obvious for some time that al-Shabaab has been going for soft targets and this university was an obvious possible target. Al-Shabaab has consistently attacked non-Muslims who are not of Somali ethnicity in the region, and it really is criminal that there were only two guards at the hostels. The intelligence failures this reveals are utterly inexcusable.” | |
| ‘Senseless brutality’ | ‘Senseless brutality’ |
| Kenya was plunged into mourning on Friday, with conversations on social media dominated by little else. | Kenya was plunged into mourning on Friday, with conversations on social media dominated by little else. |
| World leaders condemned the killings, with Pope Francis describing the deadly rampage as a display of “senseless brutality”. | World leaders condemned the killings, with Pope Francis describing the deadly rampage as a display of “senseless brutality”. |
| For the victims’ families, the long struggle to come to terms with the shocking act of terror had begun. | |
| Salias Omosa, a 20-year-old education student, described the attackers as a cold and calculating bunch who seemed to delight in their grim mission. | Salias Omosa, a 20-year-old education student, described the attackers as a cold and calculating bunch who seemed to delight in their grim mission. |
| “‘We don’t fear death; this will be a good Easter holiday for us,’ the attackers were shouting in Swahili, then shooting their guns,” Omosa told AFP. | |
| The student fled the militants at the university after seeing two of his friends executed. | The student fled the militants at the university after seeing two of his friends executed. |
| The Chiromo morgue, located a 15-minute drive away from the city centre in a normally quiet section of one of Nairobi’s more attractive suburbs, was a scene of agony as relatives waited for news of their loved ones. | |
| Joseph Kamanu said he had been trying to reach his nephew, Samuel Kamanu, a second-year business studies student, without success. | |
| “His phone is off. We have no information. We went to the hospital but were advised there were only 18 who were alive there. We were told to come and try the mortuary,” he said, his voice trailing off. | “His phone is off. We have no information. We went to the hospital but were advised there were only 18 who were alive there. We were told to come and try the mortuary,” he said, his voice trailing off. |
| Although the attackers claimed to have targeted only Christians, several Muslims were among the relatives anxiously awaiting news on their relatives. | Although the attackers claimed to have targeted only Christians, several Muslims were among the relatives anxiously awaiting news on their relatives. |
| One of them, Amina, who preferred not to give her last name, said her sister Hawi was unaccounted for. | |
| “Her phone is going through, but we can’t reach her. We don’t know what to think. She had been so happy in Garissa because she was in the first batch of students that went to the university when it opened in 2011. Now we are just suffering.” | |
| Hundreds of kilometres away in a small town in the hills of the Rift Valley, Fred Musinai was struggling to come to terms with the loss of his daughter. | Hundreds of kilometres away in a small town in the hills of the Rift Valley, Fred Musinai was struggling to come to terms with the loss of his daughter. |
| “When Elizabeth called, I tried calling back, but she was not picking,” said his wife, Rose Nafula. “I am a Christian. I knelt down and prayed hard as per her request asking God to spare her life.” | |
| But it was not to be. | But it was not to be. |
| “He said: ‘She is already gone – you just pass the information to your president,’” Musinai said, recounting the words of the gunman who relayed news of his daughter’s death. | |
| “It was so traumatising for us as a family, and we pray that God will liberate us from these terrorists.” |