The official death toll is now at 148, excluding the four terrorists. It includes 142 students, three university guards and three policemen.

The militants spoke in fluent Kiswahili and were fairly young, survivors recalled. They told them; “You pay taxes to buy guns which we are now using to kill you.”

“They told us to stop paying taxes because it is the taxes that the government uses to buy guns for the Kenya Defence Forces. They claimed they were using guns snatched from Kenyan soldiers,” said Millicent Murugi from Embu, a second year student of Education.

The pregnant young woman told Saturday Nation at Garissa Hospital; “They also told us that if (President) Kenyatta doesn’t remove Kenyan soldiers from Somalia, they will kill everybody else on sight.”

TORMENTED VICTIMS

They tormented their victims saying “Your security agents are cowards and cannot save you.” Then they would shoot them as others watched.

Ms Murugi and her colleagues survived because they smeared the blood of their dead colleagues on themselves and appeared as if they were dead. “I slowly took blood from a dead colleague lying besides me and smeared it all over my head and hands. At this time, only one attacker was in the room as the rest went upstairs. I played dead for 10 hours despite being heavily pregnant,” a tearful Ms Murugi said.

The Thursday attack assailants were not hooded as earlier claimed. “It is as if they were ready to die,” another survivor, Quinter Anyango recalled.

Survivors discharged from hospital included Ms Elosy Karemi from Meru, a student of Education in History as well as Ms Irene Kawira and Ms Beth Wambui.

Christian union members were the first one to be killed where they had gathered in a hall to pray. All 22 were killed.

MUSLIMS SPARED

Muslim students were released while non-Muslims were asked to prove they had converted to Islam by reciting Shahada, a proclamation by new converts. Those who failed were shot immediately.

The terrorists isolated Muslims from non-Muslims among the students and males from females. The three-story hostel housed 360 students. Two upper floors housed males.

“When our relatives started calling after learning about the siege, the terrorists picked the calls and told the relatives, “We are killing them now. You should know Garissa is for Muslims only,” Ms Esther Kawira said.

While the government said there were four attackers, who were killed by security, some students claimed they saw seven.

“One of them blew himself up after realising his colleagues had been cornered. The rest were killed. But it was only after we had been hostage for up to six hours that the security forces rescued us,” a survivor said.