At least four people were have been killed and more than 40 wounded when masked gunmen stormed a college in a Kenyan town near the border with Somalia, trapping students inside and exchanging gunfire with security forces over several hours.
Police and soldiers surrounded the campus at the Garissa University College and were attempting to flush out the gunmen, Joseph Boinet, Kenya’s inspector general, said in a statement.
“The attackers shot indiscriminately while inside the university compound,” he said.
Most of the wounded had been hit by gunfire and four were in a critical condition, the country’s National Disaster Operation Centre said on its Twitter feed.
“I can tell you that we have 49 casualties so far, all with bullet and [shrapnel] wounds. Four people are dead and have bullet wounds as well,” a doctor at Garissa hospital said.
“Two guards who were manning the gate at the university have been killed,” a local police woman said.
“We can hear gunshots from inside the compound but at this point we can’t tell who is shooting at who or what.”
Students who had managed to escape said five gunmen wearing masks broke in Thursday morning about 5:30am (local time) as morning prayers were taking place.
No group has claimed responsibility for the raid yet.
Last month Garissa University College’s chief security officer informed the campus that it was a target and that Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab was planning an attack.
In the past, Somali Islamist militant group Al Shabaab has carried out several attacks in Garissa and across Kenya, including the 2013 attack on an upscale shopping mall in the capital Nairobi.
Al Shabaab has vowed to punish Kenya for sending troops into Somalia alongside African Union peacekeepers to fight the group.
In February, some 200 teachers working in north-eastern Kenya, including Garissa, had protested the insecurity of their workplaces, demanding to be reassigned to safer regions.
In November, 20 teachers in the region were killed by an Islamist commando.
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