Al-Shabab gunmen
have attacked a college campus in the town of Garissa in northeast
Kenya, shooting indiscriminately in dormitories and killing at least 15
people and wounding 65 others, police said.
Witnesses said explosions and heavy gunfire rocked Garissa University
College early on Thursday as the gunmen stormed the complex. Ambulances
were seen driving injured students to local hospitals.The gunmen were holding an "unknown number of student hostages," the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement. Some "50 students have been safely freed", the organisation said.
Terrified students streamed out of buildings, some young men shirtless, as arriving police officers hunkered down, taking cover, witnesses said.
more photos after the cut
'Christians held hostage'
Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group said their gunmen were holding Christian hostages inside the complex in revenge for Nairobi's troops fighting in Somalia.
The gunmen divided students at the northeastern Garissa University between Muslims and non-Muslims, letting the Muslim students go, rebel spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP news agency by telephone.
"Kenya is at war with Somalia.. our people are still there, they are fighting and their mission is to kill those who are against the Shebab," Rage said.
"When our men arrived, they released some of people, the Muslims, and it is they that alerted the government.. we are holding the others hostage," he said, adding those seized were Christians, but not saying how many there were.
He did not give details on the number of casualties but said "there are very many".
Speaking from Garissa, cabinet secretary Joseph Nkaissery said one of the gunmen was arrested as he tried to flee scene.
The gunmen opened fire at university, triggering a "fierce shootout" with police guarding student dorms, Kenya's National Police Service said in a written statement.
Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki told Al Jazeera that the situation is ongoing and that the gunmen were holed up inside the university complex.
"The attackers shot the guards at the entrance of the university. Police officers responded but the attackers managed to get into the [university] hostel," she said.
"We can confirm that two watchmen were killed; we cannot confirm student casualties," Mboroki added.
Local journalists, however, reported that at least 10 bodies were brought to a hospital in Garissa.
The institution is situated in Garissa County in the northeastern region of Kenya, about 380km from Nairobi, the capital.
