Categories: News

Kenya’s Security Officers ‘Ignored’ Timely Intelligence About Garissa Attack

(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.

Keep Up With Face2Face Africa On Facebook!

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

Al-Shabab Garissa University Attack in Pictures

Abena Agyeman-Fisher

Abena Agyeman-Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of Face2Face Africa. Most recently, she worked for Interactive One as the Senior Editor of NewsOne, she worked for AOL as the News Programming Manager of Black Voices, which later became HuffPo Black Voices, and for the New York Times Company as an Associate Health Editor. Abena, a Spelman College graduate, has been published in Al Jazeera, the Daily Beast, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, the Grio, BlackVoices, West Orange Patch, About.com, the Source, Vibe, Vibe Vixen, Jane, and Upscale Magazines. She has interviewed top celebrities, icons, and politicians, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Civil Rights activist and diplomat Andrew Young, comedian Bill Cosby, Grammy Award-winning singer Jill Scott, actress and singer Queen Latifah, Olympic Gold winner Cullen Jones, international supermodel Alek Wek, and five-division world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather. Most recently, she served as the First Lady’s press reporter during President Barack Obama’s U.S.-Africa Summit, Young African Leaders Institute event, and the 2013 presidential trip to Senegal, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Tanzania. Abena is also a 2015 International Women's Media Foundation Africa Great Lakes Fellow, where she reported on women candidates and Chinese sweatshops in Tanzania for CNN and Refinery29.