Al-Shabaab militants have threatened to stage more attacks in Kenya, just two days after their gunmen slaughtered 148 people at a university in the country’s north east.
A statement released by the militants, says quote, ” Kenyan cities will run red with blood… this will be a long, gruesome war of which you, the Kenyan public, are its first casualties.”
The statement described how they had specifically singled out non-Muslims to kill, gathering them together before executing them.
The day-long siege on Thursday in Garissa was Kenya’s deadliest terror attack since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, and the bloodiest ever by the militants.
The group also issued a warning of pending attacks against Universities and institutions of higher learning forcing the institutions to heighten their security measures.
The University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University and the United States International University – Kenya had all issued security memos days before the attack on Garissa University claimed by Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabaab.
The memos informed students and staff of new security measures while cautioning people within their campuses to be extra vigilant.
Al-Shabab has staged numerous attacks in Kenya. The 2 April massacre at Garissa University, near the border with Somalia, is the bloodiest so far.
However the worst attack to date was on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre in 2013, when at least 68 people died.
In Westgate, and other attacks, the militants spared Muslims, while killing those unable to recite verses from the Koran.
There are also regular gun and grenade attacks attributed to al-Shabab both in border areas, where many Kenyans are ethnic Somalis, and in Nairobi.
Kenya has sent its troops into Somali territory, where they have joined the African Union force battling the militants.
Al-Shabab has also set up a recruiting network in Kenya, especially around the port city of Mombasa, which has a large Muslim population.
