Kenya unites in sorrow
Kenyans prayed for unity yesterday at the start of three days of national mourning for the 148 people murdered in a university massacre by Somali Islamists.
Flags flew at half mast after President Uhuru Kenyatta warned that people's "justified anger" should not lead to "the victimisation of anyone, (as) this would only play into the hands of the terrorists".
The al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants lined up non-Muslim students during the massacre Thursday described by Kenyatta as a "barbaric medieval slaughter".
The president vowed Saturday to retaliate in the "severest way" for the killings in the northeastern town of Garissa, close to the border with Somalia.
The massacre, Kenya's deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, claimed the lives of 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers.
"The terrible events in Garissa are still fresh in our minds and heart, but today is a day for new hope," Kenyan Anglican Archbishop Eliud Wabukala told a packed cathedral in Nairobi, as armed soldiers patrolled outside.
"These terrorists want to cause scare and divisions in our society, but we shall tell them, you will never prevail."
Top Muslim leader Hassan Ole Naado also offered his condolences. "Kenya is at war, and we must all stand together," Naado said, deputy head of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, saying the organisation was helping to raise money for the funerals of those killed and medical costs of the scores wounded.
On Saturday, the Shebab warned of a "long, gruesome war" unless Kenya withdrew its troops from Somalia, and threatened "another bloodbath".
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