Pictures
- Gunmen stormed Kenya's Garissa University College campus in dawn raid
- The 147 death toll is the worst terror attack on Kenyan soil since 1998
- Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the latest terrorist atrocity in Kenya
- Kenya has offered £156,000 bounty for information on al-Shabaab leader
- One terrorist was captured and four were killed following 13-hour firefight
These are the terrorists responsible for the mass slaughter in a Kenyan university claiming the lives of 147 people as harrowing stories emerged of the students who managed to survive the massacre.
Pictures of three dead terrorists and one survivor have been posted on the official Facebook page of leader of the Kenyan opposition Raila Odinga who visited the survivors in Garissa today.
One of the terrorists attempted to sneak out of the campus during the 13-hour stand off between al-Shabaab and Kenyan military. He was captured by police outside the compound and taken into custody.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said this was one of the terrorists responsible for yesterday's attack
The men attacked Garissa University yesterday morning killing 147 people and injuring more than 70 others
Kenyan security forces spent 13 hours exchanging gunfire with the terrorists before the last one was killed
Kenyan security officials believe this man is one of the terrorists and tried to escape from the compound
The remaining terrorists were killed after Kenyan military stormed the dormitory where they killed many of their 147 victims.
The release of the photographs comes as it emerged that the callous terrorists called the family of a girl they had just murdered using her mobile phone to ask her father to ring the Kenyan president, and order him to remove his troops from Somalia.
Fred Musinai said his daughter phoned him early yesterday morning to tell him about the attack, and at 1pm, he received another call from her handset.
The caller told Mr Musinai that his 21-year-old daughter, who was studying teaching, had just been murdered and urged him to pass on a message to the Kenyan president.
Grief-stricken locals could not hide their anguish in the wake of Kenya's worst terrorist attack since 1998, which has left 147 people dead
Survivors of yesterday's al-Shabaab massacre hugged each other as they came to terms with the atrocity
As survivors consoled each other in Garissa today, it has emerged that the Al Shabaab terrorists who carried out the senseless attack made a sickening phone call to the father of a school girl they killed
Troops also stood guard outside the campus of Garissa University following yesterday's massacre
Kenyan police stood guard at the entrance of Garissa Hospital over fears of a repeat al-Shabaab attack
Mr Musinai told The Star newspaper in Kenya: 'The caller said the Kenya Defence Forces has killed their children, women and the elderly in Somalia and the attack was a revenge mission.
'The caller was using my daughter's phone and at 1pm they called again and insisted I should pass the information to President Kenyatta.'
Mr Musinai asked the terrorist to pass the handset over to his daughter, but he replied: 'She is already gone, you just pass the information to your President,.
'It was so traumatising for us as a family and we pray that God will liberate us from these terrorists.'
The gunmen, who killed 147 people in Kenya's worst terrorist attack since 1998, ordered people to recite verses from the Koran at gunpoint to avoid being shot. They also told women that they were safe before gunning them down.
The men shouted 'God is great' as they shot and killed the unarmed civilians.
Following yesterday's massacre, Kenyan troops have been deployed on the streets of Garissa, patrolling the university and preventing any further attacks on soft targets such as the hospital.
A curfew has been imposed on the town and surrounding areas from dusk until dawn in an effort to prevent the terrorists from moving freely.
Muslims in Garissa today took to the streets to support their Christian neighbours and condemn the terrorists
The government has also begun the process of removing bodies from the university. Some have been transferred to a make-shift morgue in Garissa, but most are being transported to Nairobi, where families will be asked to identify the victims.
Habel Mutinda has not heard from his son who was trapped in the college yesterday and fears he may be among the victims.
He told Al Jazeera: 'I am so worried, I had a son who was among the students trapped inside the college, and since yesterday I have heard nothing
I tried to identify his body among those killed... I have to do that before the body goes bad in the heat
Parent Habel Mutinda
'I tried to identify his body among those killed... I have to do that before the body goes bad in the heat.. I have been camping overnight, it is really hard, it hurts.'
Survivors of the Garissa University murder said the killers stormed the campus at 5.30am yesterday morning and killed suspected Christians.
Nasir Abdurahman, who is a second year student at the university said he came face-to-face with the killers just minutes into the attack. The gunman forced him and his friends to the ground and issued a chilling ultimatum.
Mr Abdurahman told the Wall Street Journal: 'One gunman ordered us to lay down on the ground, and we did that. He asked us are you Muslims and I responded: 'Yes. Please don't kill us, we are Muslims.'
'He asked if we could recite the Shahada and I recited it loudly. My friends also recited the prayer loudly. He said: 'You can go now'.'
Those who were unable to quote sections from the Koran were shot on the spot.
One woman claimed she hid under the bodies of two of her friends to avoid the attentions of the gunmen.
Kenyans have been mourning for the 147 people who died after being ordered by the terrorists to recite verses from the Koran at gunpoint to avoid being shot
One woman (not pictured) claimed she hid under the bodies of two of her friends to avoid the attentions of the gunmen at Garissa University College
Survivors of the massacre boarded a bus earlier today to return home for the Easter holidays
Many of the survivors are being housed temporarily at Garissa Military camp until they can be brought home
Fatuma Saln, seated, hands female students some feminine hygiene products to help them in the camp
One of the terrorists was arrested several hours before the final shootout after he tried to sneak away from the university.
The 13-hour siege ended after Kenyan security forces stormed the campus, killing the four remaining terrorists. The killers 'exploded' when they were shot, due to suspected suicide vests.
It is now believed that the terrorist may have been in Garissa for several days before yesterday's attack and had been conducting surveillance on the university campus.
Survivor Helen Titus told The Associated Press: 'They investigated our area. They knew everything.'
Ms Titus was shot in the wrist and is recovering in hospital. She claimed the killers went straight to a lecture hall where Christians were holding an early morning prayer service to begin their attack.
Another student told the New York Times: 'We heard gunshots and we were sleeping so it was about five.
'Guys started jumping up and down and running for their lives.
'But it's unfortunate that where they were going to is where the gunshots were coming from.
'This made the guys find some hideouts in the field.
'So when we went there. We went to the field, sat there and the gunshots continued.
'This made us run to the fence and get our way out of the school.'
Other students said they fled for their lives naked as they did not have time to get dressed in an effort to stay ahead of the killers.'
Many of the survivors, pictured, have been told that the college in Garissa will be closed for good
The students who survived the massacre face an uncertain future after the campus was closed indefinitely
Medics continued to treat the wounded after those with the most serious injuries were airlifted to Nairobi
Some of the survivors were airlifted overnight to Nairobi for specialist treatment as the Kenyan government announced a £145,000 reward for the capture of the atrocity's suspected mastermind.
The government also warned anybody who had photographs of the massacre, that they face prosecution if they publish them on social media.
The attack is believed to be the worst terrorist attack on Kenyan soil since the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 which killed more than 200 people.
Pope Francis has since condemned the assault as 'senseless brutality' and expressed grave concerns that Christians are being targeted for their faith.
In a statement, he said the international community would be justified in using military force as a last resort to stop the 'unjust aggression'.
The terrorists stuck mid-way through Holy Week, the most solemn period in the Christian calendar. Last night, the Christian students were planning to celebrate the Last Supper in preparation for Good Friday.
Pictures on social media of one of the dorms showed bloodstained floors, bodies of male students and splintered wooden chairs.
Masked gunmen stormed the Garissa University College campus, in Kenya's north-east, yesterday
Distraught: Paramedics help a woman injured during the attack on the Garissa University College campus
One survivor told Kenyan journalist Peter Opondo: 'I took blood from my colleague who had been shot and smeared it on my face. When they came, they said this one is dead. The attackers were speaking perfect Kiswahili - like the one you would hear in the Coastal region of Kenya.'
Student Steve Mwangi told his friend Elvis Nyakreal: 'I survived the attack Elvis. We are currently in a military camp waiting to be picked by the NYS. We will thereafter be escorted to our homes. This is one of the worst experience i have ever gone through. I lost my two roommate and our student organization Chair. Thank you to all those who prayed for me.'
Student Omar Ibrahim told News24 Kenya: 'I was in a group that was saved by the KDF (Kenya Defence Forces) just after 1pm.
'We saw many many bodies, some did not have heads. I don't know why someone would do such a thing.'
Staff arriving back at the college this morning had to show their ID to enter the campus to survey the aftermath
It is understood that following yesterday's massacre the university is being closed until further notice
Eye-witness Collins Wetangula, the vice chairman of the student union, said he was preparing to take a shower when he heard gunshots coming from Tana dorm, which is home to both men and women, 150 yards away.
The campus has six dormitories and at least 887 students, he said.
He said that when he heard the gunshots he locked himself and three roommates in their room.
'All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots, nobody was screaming because they thought this would lead the gunmen to know where they are.
'The gunmen were saying sisi ni al-Shabaab (Swaihi for we are al-Shabaab).'
Mr Wetangula said he could hear the gunmen interrogating fellow students hiding inside their rooms about their religion.
He said: 'If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot. With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.'
Some patients were flown overnight to Nairobi to receive specialist treatment not available in Garissa
Soldiers carried some of the badly wounded survivors to safety amid the intense gun fighting yesterday
The gunmen started to shoot rapidly and it was as if there was an exchange of fire, he said.
'The next thing, we saw people in military uniform through the window of the back of our rooms who identified themselves as the Kenyan military.'
The soldiers took him and approximately 20 others to safety. As they were running, al-Shabaab snipers on top of a three-storey building attempted to gun them down.
He added: 'We started running and bullets were whizzing past our heads and the soldiers told us to dive.'
Fellow student, Augustine Alanga, 21, described a panicked scene as gunshots rang out outside their dormitory.
He said he saw at least five heavily-armed terrorists wearing masks.
He said: 'I am just now recovering from the pain as I injured myself while trying to escape. I was running barefoot.'
He told journalists he crossed barbed-wire fencing to escape the massacre.
Mr Alanga said any students attending morning prayers at the university's mosque at 5.30am were not attacked.
Pope Francis today condemned the atrocity branding it an act of 'senseless brutality'.
Kenyan police managed to arrest one of the terror suspects, right, after he tried to flee from the campus
£145,000 REWARD OFFERED FOR AL-SHABAAB'S TERROR MASTERMIND
Mohamed Kuno Dulyadeen Mohamud, alias 'Gamadheere' or 'long arm', is suspected of planning yesterday's massacre.
He was a religious teacher in Garissa during the 1990s in a hard-line madrassa, delivering pro-jihadi sermons.
His organisation has lost several men following some successes by Kenyan security forces, including the loss of his associate Sheikh Mohamed Ali Kheir.
A £145,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the capture of Mohamed Mohamud, who is believed to have masterminded the attack
A security source claimed: 'He has become extremely offended by the latest counter-terrorism activities in Garissa and seeks to avenge these deaths.'
He is a fluent Arabic speaker and fled to Somalia in 2006. He regularly appeared on television attacking the Kenyan government and western authorities over their treatment of Muslims.
In December 2012, the Kenyan National Security Intelligence service produced a report claiming that Mohamud was planning a series of terrorist attacks against the country.
Now the Kenyan Government has offered a £145,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
RESIDENTS AND THE RED CROSS RESPOND TO BLOOD STOCKS SHORTFALL
Residents eager to help in the wake of the terrorist attack at Garissa University College donated blood yesterday.
The Kenya Red Cross response team discovered there was a shortfall in 'safe blood' available for transfusion and set up a donation clinic at Garissa Blood Transfusion Satellite Center. Only 120 units were available, while it was estimated 250 units would be needed.
The Red Cross also airlifted surgeons, anesthetists and surgical supplies to help the resident surgeon at Garissa County Hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment