Death toll rises to 147 in Kenya university attack

(Vatican Radio) The death toll in an attack by gunmen from the Islamist militant group al Shabaab on a university in Kenya has risen to at least 147. The siege ended nearly 15 hours after the Somali group's gunmen shot their way into the Garissa University College campus in a pre-dawn attack taking Christians hostage.

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with Duncan Harvey, country director at Save the Children Kenya

The country’s Interior Minister said four gunmen strapped with explosives were behind the attack.

The charity Save the Children which is involved in projects in the country called the attacks  “unjustified and horrifying in equal measure.”

Duncan Harvey, country director at Save the Children Kenya, told Vatican Radio that this is the latest in a global trend of attacks on education.

He said, a child’s right to education, “should be respected and that using universities or schools as targets for this kind of terrorist attack is an appalling step.

Save the Children is actively engaged in promoting the international ‘guidelines’ developed to protect students and teachers around the world from the use of schools for military purposes, and to incorporate explicit protection for schools into their military doctrines and strategies.

Mr Harvey explained that they “have long been active in advocating for the protection of students and teachers around the world from the use of schools for paramilitary purposes that end up making schools targets during attacks.

Al Shabaab carried out the deadly attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013.

The group also has links to al Qaeda and a has carried out a number of raids in Kenya retaliation for the country sending troops to fight it in its home state of Somalia.

Thursday’s attack has been widely condemned and the United States offered Kenya its assistance in fighting al Shabaab.