Al-Shabaab Attacks University in Kenya, 147 Dead

Kenya suffered the worst terrorist attack in its recent history when militants fighting with al-Shabaab raided a university campus and killed nearly 150 students.

The New York Times reports al-Shabaab attacked Garissa University College in the morning hours of April 2. The group fought with security guards before entering dormitories and classrooms demanding to know who was Muslim or a member of another faith.

By the time the attack was ended by Kenyan security forces, 147 people, including four attackers, were dead. The attackers seemed to have been well equipped and are said to have been wearing bulletproof vests.

Al-Shabaab justified its terrorist by alluding to a 2011 military operation Kenya conducted in order to weaken the military group.

The Garissa attack is the worst terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombings of the US Embassy claimed 218 lives. Aside from the embassy bombings, the largest attack in recent memory was the assault on the Westgate mall, which left more than 70 people dead. It took Kenyan security forces nearly four days to secure the location.

The Garissa attack comes just a week before US President Barack Obama is set to visit the country, which is also the birthplace of his father, and raises serious questions about Kenya's internal security.

Al-Shabaab has also carried out a number of smaller attacks in recent months throughout Kenya.  

In response to the attack, a 12-hour curfew from 6:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. was instituted in four counties near the border with Somalia, which is where al-Shabaab is based.