Kenyans press for a look at dead suspects
‘I want to see them,’ one resident says
Hundreds of residents of this eastern city turned out in the traffic-clogged streets on Saturday to view the bodies of four men alleged to have carried out a bloody campus assault here, even as Somali militants issued a statement threatening Kenya with more attacks.
“I want to see them,” Muna Haji said. “I want to know that these people are dead. They have killed innocent people.”
The four naked bodies were loaded haphazardly into the back of the pickup truck at the morgue where they had been held since morning. Local and international forensics teams had taken their clothes as evidence.
The truck paraded the bodies through town as residents ran alongside, clamoring for a glimpse, until it arrived at Garissa Primary School. There, it parked, and the crowd swelled.
“Are those the real terrorists? During Westgate, we never found out whether the terrorists were really killed,” said Abdihakim Mowlio, an intern at a Garissa Provincial General Hospital, referring to the deadly Westgate Mall attack in 2013, in which alShabab militants killed 67 people. “If they show the dead bodies, we believe that they’ve really been killed. We’ll feel safer because we’ve seen that the government has actually responded.”
As rescue operations continued at Garissa University College, the Islamic extremists who claimed responsibility for the assault there on Thursday said that the motive was “retaliation” for Kenya’s military actions in Somalia and its treatment of Muslims, according to a statement posted on al-Shabab-affiliated websites and jihadists’ Twitter accounts and published by the SITE Intelligence Group.
If such actions continue, they said, there would be further attacks.
“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 statement said.
Following the extremists’ threats, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to take harsh measures against the Islamic militants.
In a nationally televised address, Kenyatta said his administration “shall respond in the severest ways possible” to the Garissa attack, which occurred Thursday when four gunmen entered a campus and slaughtered students. The military moved in hours later and the gunmen were killed.
“We will fight terrorism to the end,” said Kenyatta.
Five people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Garissa attack, a Kenyan official said. Kenyan security agencies said three of the suspects are associates of Mohamed Mohamud, who authorities say coordinated the Garissa attack.