(RNS1-april9) Youth light candles at Freedoms Corner to remember students killed by Al-Shabaab at Garissa University College. For use with RNS-KENYA-MUSLIMS, transmitted on April 9, 2015, Religion News Service photo by Fredrick Nzwili
Nearly a month after the attack on Kenya’s Garissa University by Islamic terrorist group al-
Shabab, Interior Minister Joseph Nkarissery says that security officers were indeed warned about the impending attack ahead of time but failed to act, reports the BBC.
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After an investigation, Nkarissery, who is the head of security, says that security officers had indeed received “intelligence reports” about the attack.
In fact, the Garissa University principal repeatedly asked for added security.
His requests were ignored.
On April 2, al-Shabab stormed the university, killing 148 people, which were mostly students, as they slept.
Nkarissery also says that the security forces were slow to respond to the attack due to “poor coordination.”
As Face2Face Africa previously reported:
On Thursday, al-Shabab killed at least 147 people, after they descended on the campus while many students were still sleeping at dawn.
Reportedly screaming, “We are al-Shabab,” the terrorists killed two security guards and then began shooting students as they slept in their dormitories.
The militants also reportedly singled out Christians and then killed them; a sniper also killed more than 20 security officers.
In reaction to the attack, Kenya is building a 440-mile wall along the border it shares with Somalia to keep al-Shabab out of the country.
Construction of the wall began earlier this month, however, critics say that most of the terrorists involved in the Garissa attack are actually Kenyans, not Somalians.
Still, government officials believe that the wall will boost the nation’s security.
Lamu County Governor Issa Timamy says, “We expect to have finished the project before the end of the year.
“This is where immigrants have been arrested trying to cross into the country or having already entered through the border in Lamu [an island off the Kenyan coast].
“This is a good idea and we support it because we believe it will go a long way to secure this region and indeed, the country as a whole.”
In addition, Nkarissery has suspended seven top policemen for the security failings.
See photos of the Garissa attack here:
14 photos
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