Garissa, Kenya--Masked gunmen from Somalia's Shebab Islamist group stormed a Kenyan university Thursday as students were sleeping, hurling grenades and shooting dead at least 15 people before taking Christians hostage.
Scores of others were wounded in the assault, still ongoing some 12 hours after the first grenades were used to blast open the gates of the university in the northeastern town of Garissa, near the lawless border with war-torn Somalia.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab claimed the pre-dawn attack, the same insurgents who carried out the Westgate shopping mall massacre in Nairobi September 2013, when four gunmen slaughtered at least 67 people in a four-day bloodbath.
"We were woken up by sounds of gunfire... no one knew exactly what was going on, ladies were screaming and people were running for their lives," student Ungama John said.
Other students said they saw up to four masked gunmen.
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP the gunmen had taken non-Muslims hostage, but gave no numbers.
"When our men arrived, they released the Muslims. We are holding others hostage," Rage said, describing those seized as Christians.
"Our people are still there, they are fighting and their mission is to kill those who are against the Shebab," he said.
"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 12 hours after the attack began, as Kenya's interior ministry said the "attackers have been cornered in one hostel".
Soldiers with tanks were deployed around the campus.
Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said 15 people had been killed, and that "one suspected terrorist" had been arrested attempting to flee.
Kenya's official National Disaster Operation Centre said a further 65 had been injured, many suffering from gunshot wounds.
AFP
