ATTACK AGAIN
GARISSA, Kenya — Even as the militant group al-Shabab vowed more attacks, Kenyan officials said Saturday that five terrorists were detained in connection with a bloody assault on a Kenyan university and that more arrests are expected.Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said on Twitter that security agencies picked up three people trying to cross into Somalia, where the al-Shabab militants are based.
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 attack on Garissa University College that killed 148 people. Four gunmen were killed in the 15-hour siege.
The three arrests at the border bring the number of suspects arrested in relation to the attack to five after two others were picked up at in Garissa, in northeast Kenya, where Thursday's attack occurred.
Kenyan authorities have put a $220,000 bounty for information leading to Gamadhere's arrest.
"Police are still on the mission to arrest others. No more deaths expected, and nobody is in the compound apart from security officers," said Interior Minister Joseph Nkasseiry.
"For as long as your government persists in its path of oppression, implements repressive policies and continues with the systematic persecution against innocent Muslims, our attacks will also continue," the statement said. "No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath from occurring in your cities."
The veracity of the statement has not been confirmed, though Kenyan military officials were treating it as legitimate.
A curfew has been imposed for two weeks on Garissa and three neighboring counties as security forces hunt for additional suspects tied to the attack. The latest arrests followed an appealed by the government for help in capturing nine men, described as "bloodthirsty, armed and dangerous."
Some residents of Garissa said the heavily armed Kenyan troops were overly zealous in rooting out al-Shabab terrorists who have claimed responsibility for the attacks.
"It's not safe here for us as residents," said Abdikadir Adolwa. "The soldiers are whipping residents to force them to identify terrorists. The military have terrorized this area and we fear going to the streets of the town."
Many residents who could stay outside the town opted to leave while the troops were present.
"They're arresting people who have no national identity cards," said Nathar Abdkir Balza, a mother of five, who owns a hotel in Garissa. "You can be arrested for loitering."
Ethnic Somalis especially have deserted the area.
"The Somalis like miraa but they are now afraid to come to town and buy it," said Kevin Kariuki, who sells miraa, or khat, an African plant that has slightly intoxicating effects when chewed.
As authorities swept the area, survivors of the assault on the university surfaced to describe their ordeal.
Cynthia Cheroitich, 19, told The Associated Press from her hospital gurney that she hid in a large cupboard and covered herself with clothes, refusing to emerge even when some of her classmates came out of hiding at the demands of the gunmen from the al-Shabab group.
She was rescued shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday, according to Kenyan officials.
Cheroitich said she didn't believe that rescuers urging her to come out of her hiding place were there to help, suspecting at first that they were militants.
"How do I know that you are the Kenyan police?" she said she asked them.
Only when Kenyan security forces had one of her teachers appeal to her did she come out, she said.
"I was just praying to my God," Cheroitich, a Christian, said of her ordeal.
Cheroitich appeared tired and thirsty, sipping on yoghurt and a soft drink, but otherwise seemed in good health. She said she drank a lotion because she was so thirsty and hungry while in hiding.
Contributing: Associated Press. Stanglin reported from McLean, Va.
Source : USAT
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