Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday
declared three days of national mourning after
Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab
gunmen entered a university campus and killed
almost 150 people in one of the country’s worst
massacres.
“I declare three days of mourning during which
our flags will fly at half mast,”I'm Kenyatta said in
a televised national address from the capital
Nairobi, condemning the “barbaric slaughter” in
his first address since the attack ended on
Thursday.
The leader also warned that planners and
financiers of attacks like the one that took place
in Garissa town are “deeply embedded in our
communities”.
Kenyatta said his administration would “respond
in the severest ways possible” to the Garissa
attack, which occurred Thursday when four
gunmen entered a campus and slaughtered
students. The military moved in hours later and
the gunmen were killed.
“We will fight terrorism to the end,” said
Kenyatta. “I want you to know that our security
forces are pursuing the remaining accomplices.
We will bring all of them to justice … We are
also in active pursuit of the mastermind (of the
attack) and have placed a reward for his
capture,” he said.
Kenyatta urged survivors of the attack “to
continue working hard in their education”.
Kenyatta’s nationwide address came after al
Shabaab warned of more attacks in Kenya.
“Kenyan cities will run red with blood,” said al
Shabaab according to the SITE intelligence
monitoring group.
The Islamic militants said the attack on Garissa
University College was in retaliation for killings
carried out by Kenyan troops fighting the rebels
in Somalia.
“This will be a long, gruesome war of which you,
the Kenyan public, are its first casualties,” said
the statement, issued on Shabaab-affiliated
websites and Twitter accounts.
“No amount of precaution or safety measures
will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart
another attack or prevent another bloodbath,” it
said.
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