ICC Note: In the aftermath of Thursday’s horrific mass killing at a university where Islamic militants Al-Shabaab specifically targeted Christians, terrifying details are emerging detailing the horrors first-hand. At the end of the day, 147 people were killed, mostly Christians, and dozens wounded. The attackers separated Christians from Muslims and summarily executed the Christian students, letting the Muslims go free.
4/3/2015 Garissa, Kenya (BBC) – Students at Kenya’s Garissa university awoke on Thursday morning to the sound of gunmen prowling the campus, shooting at their classmates. Nearly 150 people were killed in what would become the deadliest attack yet by al-Shabab militants in Kenya. Witnesses have been describing what happened.
“All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots,” student Collins Wetangula told the Associated Press news agency. “Nobody was screaming because they thought this would lead the gunmen to where they are.”
“The gunmen were saying, ‘Sisi ni al-Shabab,'” he said – Swahili for “We are al-Shabab.”
The raid began at dawn – about 0530 local time (0230 GMT). Two Toyota Probox cars drove up to the university gates, according to Kenyan daily newspaper The Star. Five gunmen got out, wearing masks and jungle-style fatigues, the paper says.
They shot dead two guards at the gate and entered the campus. A labourer named Boaz Muanja told The Star he initially mistook the gunmen for police officers – until they began firing in his direction.
A student said she too mistook the armed men for police when she went to check on an explosion at the gates. “All of a sudden I saw them throw explosives… where the Christian Union members were praying,” she said.
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