Garissa University College attack

2015 Garissa University College attack
class=notpageimage| Location of Garissa University College in Kenya
Location	Garissa, Kenya
Coordinates	0.449019°S 39.661925°E / -0.449019; 39.661925
Date	2 April 2015 (2015-04-02) 05:30 (local time) (UTC+03:00)
Target	non-Muslim students
Attack type	Hostage-taking, shooting, mass murder
Weapons	AK-47s and explosive belts
Deaths	152 (including 4 attackers)
Injured	79
Perpetrators	Al-Shabaab

On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing at least 148 people, and injuring 79 or more. The militant group Al-Shabaab, which the gunmen claimed to be from, took responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took several students hostage, freeing Muslims but holding non-Muslims. The siege ended the same day, after four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer.

The attack was the deadliest in Kenya since the 1998 United States embassy bombings. It had more casualties than the 2002 Mombasa attacks, the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack, the 2014 Nairobi bus bombings, the 2014 Gikomba bombings, and the 2014 Lamu attacks.

Background

Garissa, in the North Eastern Province around 200 km from the border with Somalia, was considered as "one of the safest spots in the region". It housed both military barracks and police headquarters. Al-Shabaab, a multi-ethnic militant group based in Somalia with links to Al-Qaeda, had killed over 200 people in Kenya in the two years prior to the event. These attacks significantly affected Kenya's tourism industry, although prior to Al-Shabaab's existence, the 2002 Mombasa attacks also targeted tourists. Previously, many of the militant group's attacks were outside major urban population centers.

Diplomats and analysts had also criticized the Kenyan security forces' policing strategy, which they described as heavy-handed and which involved indiscriminate mass arrests of resident Somalis. They further warned that such sweeping tactics would only result in creating resentment among Muslims, thereby providing Al-Shabaab with an opportunity to capitalize on the situation.

It was reported that there had been "high-profile warnings about a threat to a major university" prior to the attack. Grace Kai, a student at a nearby college, said that "strangers had been spotted in Garissa town and were suspected to be terrorists", and then "on Monday [30 March 2015] our college principal told us… that strangers had been spotted in our college"; on Tuesday, while the college closed and sent its students home, the university which remained open was attacked.

The attack came a day after the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had chastised the United Kingdom and Australia for renewing their travel warnings over security threats in Kenya, and accused them of perpetuating colonialism.

Attack and hostage-taking

The attack started at around 05:30 local time, triggering a shoot-out between gunmen and the police guarding the university. Two guards were killed at the entrance. 20 students were rescued by soldiers, including Collins Wetangula, who described the presence of at least five masked, armed gunmen, as well as Christians being "shot on the spot". Other survivors indicated that the shooters had summoned the pupils to get out of their bedrooms in the dormitory and to position themselves face-down on the ground, but then executed the students.

The Kenya Defence Forces and other security agencies were deployed. They surrounded and sealed off the university to flush out the gunmen, with the Interior Ministry and Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre reporting that three out of four dormitories had been evacuated. Michael Bwana, another student who fled, said that "most of the people still inside there are girls", in reference to the remaining student dormitory where the gunmen were believed to be hiding.

The siege ended after nearly 15 hours, with four gunmen killed just after dusk. The masked attackers wielded AK-47s and were strapped with explosives. When they were shot by Kenyan forces, the gunmen were described to have exploded "like bombs". It was unclear if the explosives had been deliberately detonated by the attackers, or if the security forces' gunfire had triggered the explosions.

Of the 148 dead, 142 were students, 3 were soldiers and 3 were police officers. Around 587 students escaped, but 79 were injured. Authorities said all students have since been accounted for.

Perpetrators and motive

A student survivor said that the gunmen spoke in Swahili, and asserted that they were associated with the Al-Shabaab group. The group later claimed credit for the attack. A spokesman for the group, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, said regarding the situations that "when our men arrived, they released the Muslims", but were holding Christians hostage. Rage also said that his men's "mission is to kill those who are against the Shabab", and that "Kenya is at war with Somalia" in reference to the presence of Kenyan troops in the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). Another spokesman asserted that Al-Shabaab attacked the institution because it was "on Muslim land colonized by non-Muslims".

One suspected attacker was arrested while fleeing the area during the siege. After the siege ended, two more suspected attackers were found on the campus and arrested, one of whom was Tanzanian and had no connections to the university.

The Kenyan government named a citizen of Somali origin Mohamed Mohamud (alias Sheikh Dulayadayn, Gamadhere, or Mohamed Kuno) as the mastermind behind the attack, and offered a 20 million Kenyan shillings ($215,000) reward for his arrest. From 1993 to 1995, Mohamud had worked at the Al-Haramain Foundation, and later taught and became the principal of the Madrasa Najah school in Garissa. The local media had associated Mohamud with two separate Al-Shabaab attacks in 2014 in the Mandera area.

On 4 April, Al-Shabaab issued a statement in English aimed at the Kenyan public. The emailed message denounced what it described as "unspeakable atrocities against the Muslims of East Africa" by Kenyan security forces, both in the predominantly ethnic Somali-inhabited North Eastern Province and in southern Somalia, where Kenyan forces had been deployed as part of AMISOM. The militant group indicated that the Garissa shooters wanted to "avenge the deaths of thousands of Muslims killed at the hands of the Kenyan security forces." In further retaliation, Al-Shabaab declared that "Kenyan cities will run red with blood" and vowed that it would "stop at nothing to avenge the deaths of our Muslim brothers until your government ceases its oppression and until all Muslim lands are liberated from Kenyan occupation." The group also warned the Kenyan public that it would target them in their workplaces, residences, schools and universities for "condoning your government's oppressive policies by failing to speak out against them" and for "reinforcing their policies by electing them."

On 4 April, the Interior Ministry of Kenya announced that five men suspected of involvement in the attack had been apprehended. Three of the individuals, Kenyan citizens of Somali origin, were believed to have been the organizers. They were intercepted as they were attempting to enter Somalia. The other individual was a security guard at the university; also a Kenyan citizen of Somali origin, he was thought to have facilitated entry into the institution. The last suspect, a Tanzanian named Rashid Charles Mberesero, was suspected of having been among the gunmen. He was reportedly found hiding in the ceiling and was carrying ammunition.

Aftermath

Nightly curfews from 18:30 to 6:30 were imposed until 6 April in Garissa and three other counties (Wajir, Mandera and Tana River) near the North Eastern Province's border with Somalia.

Former Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga, former Kenyan Minister of Trade Moses Wetangula and other members of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy instead called for an immediate withdrawal of Kenyan troops from Somalia. Wetangula also recommended that the Kenyan government cut its military budget in half, and reallocate the slashed funds toward strengthening internal security. Additionally, Odinga accused Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta of conceitedness for having dismissed intelligence alerts of potential attacks issued by foreign nations.

See also

• List of Islamist terrorist attacks
• 2014 Peshawar school massacre
• July 2010 Kampala attacks, carried out by Al-Shabaab
• Terrorism in Kenya