Thursday's attack was the country's worst
since the 1998 bombing of the US
embassy in Nairobi [Getty Images]
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Kenyans have begun three days of national
mourning and dedicated Easter Sunday
prayer services to the 148 victims of the
recent university massacre by al-Shabab
fighters.
Easter ceremonies across the country
were due to be held in the memory of the
students and security personnel killed in a
country where 80 percent of the
population is Christian, with flags flying at
half-mast.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared
three days of national mourning after the
attack in the northeastern town of Garissa,
near the border with Somalia.
In the capital city of Nairobi, one candle
was lit in memory of each victim of the
attack on Garissa University College in a
vigil on Saturday.
After besieging the university on Thursday,
al-Shabab gunmen lined up non-Muslim
students before executing them in the
armed group's bloodiest attack to date.
The attack claimed the lives of 142
students, three police officers and three
soldiers.
'Mindless slaughter'
Kenyatta pledged that the attackers would
face justice for the "mindless slaughter"
and vowed to retaliate in the "severest
way" to the killings.
Five men have been arrested in connection
with the attack.
The massacre was Kenya's deadliest attack
since the 1998 bombing of the US
embassy in Nairobi.
On Saturday, al-Shabab warned of a "long,
gruesome war" unless Kenya withdrew its
troops from Somalia, and threatened
"another bloodbath".
Hours after al-Shabab's warning, police in
Garissa paraded four corpses of the
gunmen piled on top of each other face
down in the back of a pick-up truck
followed by a huge crowd.
Police insisted the grim display was to see
if anyone could identify the assailants, but
some onlookers threw stones at the
bodies as they passed, while others jeered
and shouted at the dead.
Al Jazeera's Catherine Wambua-Soi,
reporting from Garissa, said another
objective of the display was to prove to
Kenyans that the gunmen had indeed
been killed, and to try and build public
confidence in the security forces.
In Nairobi's ethnic Somali district
demonstrators took to the streets
protesting against al-Shabab, echoing
Kenyatta's call for unity in the country.
Kenya has suffered a series of attacks
since 2011 when it sent troops to
neighbouring Somalia to join African
Union forces battling al-Shabab.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Al-Shabab threatens more attacks in
Kenya after Garissa
Somali armed group that attacked
university killing 148 on Thursday warns
that Kenyan cities will "run red with
blood".
Kenya, Somalia
Survivor: Gunmen scouted Kenya campus
before attack
Student who survived attack at university
where al-Shabab killed 148 people says
siege was planned extensively.

RIP to the dead

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