Kenya’s President has vowed to take harsh measures against Islamic militants after they attacked a school near the Somali border, killing 148 people.
President Uhuru Kenyatta warned on Saturday in a nationally televised address that the planners and financiers of attacks like the one in Garissa town are “deeply embedded in our communities.”
Mr. Kenyatta said his administration “shall respond in the severest ways possible” to the Garissa attack, which occurred on Thursday when four gunmen entered a campus and slaughtered students. The military moved in hours later and the gunmen were killed.
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“We will fight terrorism to the end,” said Mr. 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 Garissa attack] and have placed a reward for his capture,” he said. He also declared three days of national mourning over the Garissa attack.
Mr. Kenyatta’s nationwide address came after Somalia’s Islamic extremist group al-Shabab warned of more attacks in Kenya like the assault on Garissa University College. Five people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Garissa attack, a Kenyan official said.
Kenyan security agencies arrested three people trying to cross into Somalia, said Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka in a Twitter post.
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He said the three are associates of Mohamed Mohamud, also known as Dulyadin Gamadhere, a former teacher at a Kenyan Madrassa Islamic school who authorities say coordinated the Garissa attack. Kenyan authorities have put a $220,000 bounty for information leading to Gamadhere’s arrest.
Two other suspects were arrested at Garissa college.
A survivor of the killings at Garissa University College was found on Saturday, two days after the attack by Islamic extremists killed 148 people.