Families of Kenya university victims await arrival of bodies

Islamic Extremism

Members of the Red Cross help a relative of one of the students massacred by Somalia's Shebab Islamists at a Kenyan university at the Chiromo funeral parlour in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on April 3, 2015. The bodies of dozens of students massacred by Somalia's Shebab Islamists at a Kenyan university in Garissa arrived in the capital today, as grieving relatives faced a desperate wait to receive the remains of their loved ones. AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBAMembers of the Red Cross help a relative of one of the students massacred by Somalia’s Shebab Islamists at a Kenyan university at the Chiromo funeral parlour in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on April 3, 2015. The bodies of dozens of students massacred by Somalia’s Shebab Islamists at a Kenyan university in Garissa arrived in the capital today, as grieving relatives faced a desperate wait to receive the remains of their loved ones. AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA

In the worst attack on Kenyan soil since the U.S. embassy was bombed in 1998, gunmen from the Islamist militant group al Shabaab stormed a university in Kenya and killed at least 147 people on Thursday.

On Friday (April 3), grieving relatives of the students jammed a local mortuary in the hope there loved ones were not there but in the hospital.

Most of them were heartbroken after seeing their kin’s bodies being taken to the mortuary’s cold room.

Strapped with explosives, masked al Shabaab gunmen stormed the Garissa University College campus, some 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border, in a pre-dawn rampage.

Tossing grenades and spraying bullets at cowering students, the attackers initially killed indiscriminately.

But they later freed some Muslims and instead targeted Christian students during a siege that lasted about 15 hours.

Sobbing relatives could be seen screaming at the mortuary, while others took to prayer.

Ambulances arrived carrying the bodies of 48 students.

The bodies were then transferred to the cold rooms awaiting identification.

Members of the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya joined relatives at the morgue and condemned the attack.

Hundreds of people from the Kenyan town of Garissa marched in protest against the al-Shabaab militant group on Friday.

The demonstration followed the attack on the University College in the town by the extremists.

Some Kenyans were angry that the government didn’t take sufficient security precautions.

The attack at Garissa University College happened six days after Britain advised “against all but essential travel” to parts of Kenya, including Garissa.

Report complied with information from The Associated Press and Reuters.