As many as 150 people have been murdered by al-Shabaab terrorists at Garissa Universityr, Kenyan officials have confirmed.
The group raided the campus shortly after 5am local time, overwhelming guards and shooting and beheading people they suspected of being a Christian.
Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery confirmed that 90 per cent of the terrorist threat had been eliminated, although 315 of the hostages are still unaccounted for.
Tonight, Kenyan security officials at the scene said the security operation to free hostages is over and that the death toll may be as high as 150. Dozens of hostages were freed, they said, with four of the gunmen killed.
One Kenyan police source said there were 147 dead and another police source said 160.
A third source put the death toll at around 80 but said there were so many bodies that he could not do a proper count as night fell with no electrical power to light the scene.
Initially there were said to be 70 fatalities and a further 79 people had been wounded. The attack is believed to be the worst terrorist attack on Kenyan soil since the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 which killed more than 200 people.
The terrorists stuck mid-way through Holy Week, the most solemn period in the Christian calendar. Tonight, the Christian students were planning to celebrate the Last Supper in preparation tomorrow for Good Friday.
Kenyan security officials said one of the terrorists was arrested after he tried to escape the compound. A further two terrorists have been 'neutralised' according to the Interior Ministry, which they later clarified as military speak for 'killed'.
They have also offered a $220,000 bounty for Mohammed Mohamud, known as Dulyadin, alias Gamadhere, who they suspect of masterminding the attack.
Kenyan intelligence officials believe that Mohamud is in charge of al-Shabaab's external operations against the country.
He is believed to have spent time teaching in a hard-line madrassa before becoming a senior member of the Somali terror organisation.
He claimed responsiblity for an earlier attack in Makka, Kenya, on November 22, 2014, when 28 people were murdered.
Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinet announced that a curfew had been introduced a=from dusk to dawn - 6.30pm to 6.30am - for four regions near the Somalia border as a security precaution.
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