Increase in the Number of Victims of Al-Shabaab Attack on a University in Kenya

A Kenyan government official said on Friday, April 14, that the death toll from the Al-Shabaab militants' attack on a university in Kenya will exceed 147. At the same time, public anger is rising over the government's inability to prevent this deadly incident. According to Reuters, armed Al-Shabaab militants attacked the Garissa University campus, located 200 kilometers from the Somali border, early Thursday morning. The masked attackers, who were strapped with explosives, initially opened fire indiscriminately on all students, but then released several Muslim students. In this hostage situation, which lasted fifteen hours, Christian students were the main targets of the attackers. Warnings about an imminent attack on this university had been issued last week. Local residents, who are angry, say that despite these warnings, the government has done nothing to increase security in this impoverished area. Mohammed Salat, a 47-year-old trader, said, "This is due to the government's negligence and complacency. It is unacceptable for such an incident to occur despite the rumors that were circulating." Officials stated that 150 people were killed and at least 79 others were injured in this attack. However, given the number of missing students and staff, the death toll is likely to rise. A government official said, "There is a possibility that the number of casualties will increase." The Daily Nation, Kenya's largest daily newspaper, also reported from sources that the death toll would be much higher. A group of women in veils is waiting at the university gates for news of the missing. Bariah Bari, a 36-year-old woman, said her cousin, who worked in the university office, has been missing since Thursday. The occurrence of this violent event will worsen the position of Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, whose government has so far failed to stop armed attacks. These attacks have negatively impacted Kenya's international image and severely weakened the country's tourism industry. Since President Kenyatta took office in April 2013, more than 400 people have been killed in armed attacks by Al-Shabaab, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Sixty-seven people died in a bombing at a shopping mall in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, last September. The bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi in 1998 by Al-Qaeda also resulted in 207 deaths. This bombing is considered the deadliest violent event in Kenya since its independence from Britain in 1963. Al-Shabaab claims that these armed attacks are in retaliation for the deployment of Kenyan troops in the African Union peacekeeping forces in Somalia to suppress this group. Survivors of the Al-Shabaab attack on Garissa University reported that the attackers searched the university's rooms and classrooms for non-Muslim students and executed them ruthlessly. A 21-year-old student said he saw three female students kneeling on the ground, pleading with the attackers for mercy. He added, "Their mistake was that they shouted, 'Oh Jesus Christ, save us.' And at that moment, they were immediately shot dead." Hours after the attack, the Kenyan government announced a $215,000 reward for the capture of Mohammed Mahmoud, the mastermind of the attack. Kenyan media reported that Mohammed Mahmoud, a former religious studies lecturer at Garissa University, was the planner of two separate previous Al-Shabaab attacks in the Mandera area that occurred last year.