The morning of April 2, 2015, etched itself into Kenya’s history as a day of profound tragedy when heavily armed militants stormed Garissa University College in the North Eastern town of Garissa. The brutal attack, orchestrated by the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab group, targeted unsuspecting students and security personnel, resulting in the ruthless execution of 148 people and injuring at least 79 others. The victims included 142 students, three soldiers, and three police officers. It instantly became the deadliest terrorist incident in Kenya since the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings, exposing critical security vulnerabilities and sparking national outrage over the senseless slaughter of promising young lives.
The assault began at approximately 5:30 a.m. local time, with four masked gunmen overwhelming unarmed guards before breaching the campus. They swiftly took hundreds of students hostage, systematically separating victims based on their religion, a grim tactic designed to maximize sectarian violence. Survivors recounted that Muslim students were released, while Christian students were held captive and executed on the spot or forced to lie face down before being shot. The siege dragged on for nearly 15 hours, only ending when the Kenyan Special Forces (Recce Squad Commandos) neutralized all four assailants. Authorities later named the operation’s alleged mastermind as Mohamed Kuno, a former local teacher with Al-Shabaab links, whose stated motive was retaliation against Kenya for deploying its troops in Somalia as part of the AMISOM peacekeeping mission.
The national reaction was one of deep mourning and indignation, prompting swift action from the government and drawing strong condemnation from the United Nations and international allies. In the immediate aftermath, curfews were imposed in Garissa and surrounding counties as authorities launched a massive manhunt, leading to the arrest of several suspects, including a university security guard believed to have facilitated the attackers’ entry. In a significant step towards justice, three key conspirators were convicted and handed lengthy prison sentences in 2019. While the university was temporarily closed and students transferred, the event served as a painful and permanent catalyst for re-evaluating Kenya’s counter-terrorism strategy and security preparedness, with national campaigns dedicated to ensuring the 148 lives lost would never be forgotten.