*(Via USA Today) – NAIROBI — Armed terrorists stormed a university in northern Kenya on Thursday, taking hostages and targeting Christians in a more than 15-hour attack that left 147 dead.
Four terrorists were killed, 587 students were evacuated and 79 were injured in the assault on the Garissa University campus located about 90 miles from the Somali border. The Somali-based Islamic terrorist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack — the al-Qaeda-linked organization’s deadliest in Kenya.
Students said the gunmen separated Christians from Muslims and held hostages in a dormitory, Kenya’s National Police Service said. Explosives were reportedly staged around the Christian hostages. School officials said students reported the gunmen attended morning prayers at the campus mosque before heading to the dorm.
Kenyan Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery said many of students were also killed during morning prayers at the mosque. Jackson Kamau, a student at the university, said the militants killed those who were likely converts to Islam. Locals can easily differentiate between Somali Muslims born into Islam and those who have converted.
“We’ll not allow terrorists to divide our country on religious lines,” said Aden Duale, majority leader in Kenya’s National Assembly.
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