Armed terrorists stormed a university in northern Kenya last Thursday, killing 147 people, wounding dozens and taking hostages during a 15-hour siege until the four militants responsible were killed by security forces. Christians and converts to Islam appeared to have been the targets.

More than 550 students were evacuated and 79 were injured in the standoff on the Garissa University campus, approximately 90 miles from the Somali border. The Somali-based Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack which was the Al-Qaeda-linked organization’s deadliest in Kenya.

Students said the gunmen separated Christians from Muslims and held hostages in a dormitory, where they placed explosives around the Christian hostages, according to Kenya’s National Police Service.

Kenyan Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery said some students were killed during morning prayers at the mosque. Jackson Kamau, a student at the university, said the militants killed those who were likely converts to Islam. Locals can differentiate between Somali Muslims born into Islam and those who have converted because they come from different ethnic groups.

“We’ll not allow terrorists to divide our country on religious lines,” said Aden Duale, majority leader in Kenya’s National Assembly.

“Most of the 147 dead were students. Two security guards, one policeman and one soldier also were killed in the attack,” Nkaissery said.

One suspected extremist was arrested as he tried to flee, Nkaissery told a news conference in Nairobi.

Heavy gunfire erupted at the college as the Kenyan military worked to end the siege. Police Inspector General Joseph Boinett said a dusk-to-dawn curfew will be in place in Garissa and three neighboring counties starting Friday through April 16.

The White House strongly condemned the attack and said the United States was providing assistance to the Kenyan government.

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