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Al-Shabaab Threatens Kenya With More Attacks

Al-Shabaab Threatens Kenya With More Attacks
Al-Shabaab Threatens Kenya With More Attacks

Al-Shabaab militants have threatened Kenya on Saturday with further attacks after Thursday’s university campus massacre, warning the country’s cities ‘will run red with blood’.

A statement by the Somali Islamist group also said: ‘No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath from occurring in your cities,’ the Euronews reported.

Kenya has made at least five arrests and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew near the porous border with Somalia following the rampage by masked al-Shabaab gunmen that left at least 148 people dead, nearly all of them students.

Authorities are under pressure for not preventing the bloodshed at Garissa University College campus, some 200 km from the Somali border, despite apparent warnings of an attack. But tightened security measures come too late for those caught up in the massacre.

Amid fears the death toll will rise, survivors of the rampage have been speaking about their ordeal. During the 15 hour siege, one woman said she witnessed an Islamist gunman discovering a student who was desperately calling her mother.

Many students fled into the sandy scrubland, scaling barbed-wire fences and jumping off buildings, often half-naked, as they were awoken by the sound of gunfire and explosions.

Christians were targeted in the siege. Four gunmen involved are now dead but despite fears of further attacks by Somali al-Shabaab militants in Kenya, President Obama has confirmed he still plans to visit the country later this year.

Al-Shabaab says its recent wave of attacks is retribution for Kenya sending troops into Somalia to fight the group alongside other African Union peacekeepers.

The group, which at one point controlled most of Somalia, has lost swathes of territory in recent years but diplomats have repeatedly warned this has not diminished al-Shabaab’s ability to stage guerrilla-style attacks at home and abroad.

 

Financialtribune.com