Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Al-Shabab has taken credit for an attack on a university in the eastern Kenyan city of Garissa early Thursday morning. As many as 147 people have died. Seventy-nine were injured.
The attack began at Garissa University early in the morning with witnesses saying at least five armed men entered the university and started shooting indiscriminately as students fled.
"It was around 5:30 a.m. today in the morning. Most of the students were still asleep, including myself, but then we heard several gunshots," Garissa University student Augustine Alanga told France 24.
Kenya's Interior Ministry said one suspect was arrested while attempting to flee the scene while four other gunmen were killed.
An Al-Shabab spokesman told the BBC gunmen had separated Muslims and non-Muslims, letting Muslims go while killing the non-Muslims.
That act is one of the hallmarks of an Al-Shabab attack — the group did the same in a Kenya bus attack last year near the Somali border and during the Nairobi Westgate mall attack in 2013.
Al-Shabab says its attacks are in retaliation for Kenya's involvement in a regional peacekeeping mission in Somalia meant to drive the terrorist group out of the country. (Video via African Union Mission In Somalia)
A Nairobi-based blogger told CNN Garissa University may have been specifically targeted because it takes in students from all around the country, meaning there would be more Christians.
