Kenya Defence Forces soldiers move behind a thicket in Garissa town in this photograph taken from a mobile phone April 2, 2015. 
 
 Emergency vehicles are seen parked along a road in Garissa, in this still image taken from video shot on April 2, 2015. 
 
 Military officers travel in a vehicle along a road in Garissa, in this still image taken from video shot on April 2, 2015. 
 
 Students are evacuated from a university campus that was stormed by Islamist militant group al Shabaab in Garissa, in this still image taken from video shot on April 2, 2015. 
 
 A Kenya Defense Force soldier runs for cover near the perimeter wall where attackers are holding up at a campus in Garissa April 2, 2015. 
 
 GARISSA, Kenya Gunmen from the Islamist militant group al Shabaab stormed a university in Kenya and killed at least 147 people on Thursday, in the worst attack on Kenyan soil since the U.S. embassy was bombed in 1998. 
 
 The siege ended nearly 15 hours after the Somali group's gunmen shot their way into the Garissa University College campus in a pre-dawn attack, sparing Muslim students and taking many Christians hostage. 
 
 Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said four gunmen strapped with explosives were behind the attack, the same number that killed 67 people during the 2013 bloodbath at a shopping mall in Nairobi. 
 
 "The operation has ended successfully. Four terrorists have been killed," Nkaissery told Kenyan media. 
 
 Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinet said the attackers had "shot indiscriminately" when they entered the university compound. 
 
 Police and soldiers surrounded the campus and exchanged gunfire with the attackers throughout the day but were repeatedly repelled. At least 79 people were injured and many airlifted to Nairobi, Kenya's national disaster body said. 
 
 Al Shabaab, who carried out the deadly attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013, claimed responsibility for the raid on the campus in Garissa, a town 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border. The group has links to al Qaeda and a record of raids on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Nairobi sending troops to fight it in its home state of Somalia. 
 
 Al Qaeda bombed the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on the same day in 1998, killing 224 people and wounding thousands of people. 
 
 The United States condemned the latest attack and offered Kenya help in fighting al Shabaab. 
 
 One image provided by a local journalist showed a dozen blood-soaked bodies strewn across a single university classroom in Garissa. But some students managed to escape unaided. 
 
 "We heard some gunshots and we were sleeping so it was around five and guys started jumping up and down running for their lives," an unnamed student told Reuters TV. 
 
 Authorities offered a 20 million shilling ($215,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of a man called Mohamed Mohamud, described as "most wanted" and linked to the attack. 
 
 Police chief Boinet said Kenya had imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on four regions near the Somalia border. 
 
 TOURISM AND RELIGION 
 
 Al Shabaab, which seeks to impose its own harsh version of sharia law, has separated Muslims from Christians in some of its previous raids in Kenya, notably late last year in attacks on a bus and at a quarry. 
 
 Its repeated raids, together with attacks on churches by home-grown Islamist groups, have strained the cordial relations between Kenya's Muslim and Christian communities. 
 
 Having killed more than 200 people in Kenya over the past two years, Al Shabaab has also brought the tourism industry to its knees. 
 
 Thursday's attack undermined a renewed drive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to persuade foreigners the country is now safe to visit. 
 
 On Wednesday, he had urged Kenyans abroad to help attract tourists back despite the wave of militant violence, criticizing a warning from Australia of a possible attack in Nairobi and an advisory from Britain urging its citizens to avoid most coastal resorts. 
 
 Grace Kai, a student at the Garissa Teachers Training College near the university, said there had been warnings that an attack in the town could be imminent. 
 
 "Some strangers had been spotted in Garissa town and were suspected to be terrorists," she told Reuters. 
 
 "Then on Monday our college principal told us ... that strangers had been spotted in our college... On Tuesday we were released to go home, and our college closed, but the campus remained in session, and now they have been attacked." 
 
 Many Kenyans living in the crime-ridden frontier regions blame the government for not doing enough to protect its citizens from the militants. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Joseph Akwiri in Mombasa, Humphrey Malalo in Nairobi, Noor Ali in Isiolo, Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Drazen Jorgic, John Stonestreet; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt, Giles Elgood, Larry King) 

 Students gather and watch from a distance outside the Garissa University College after an attack by gunmen, in Garissa, Kenya, Thursday, April 2, 2015. Gunmen attacked the university early Thursday, shooting... (Associated Press) 
 
 A Kenya Defence Forces tank moves towards the Garissa University college, in Garissa, Kenya, Thursday, April 2, 2015. Al-Shabab gunmen attacked Garissa University College in northeast Kenya early Thursday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Students of the Garissa University College take shelter in a vehicle after fleeing from an attack by gunmen in Garissa, Kenya, Thursday, April 2, 2015. Gunmen attacked the university early Thursday, shooting... (Associated Press) 
 
 Local residents donate blood at Garissa hospital, Thursday, April 2, 2015. Al-Shabab gunmen attacked Garissa University College in northeast Kenya early Thursday, targeting Christians and killing at least... (Associated Press) 
 
 Kenya's national disaster operations center and the interior minister say the attack by al-Shabab gunmen on a college campus has claimed 147 lives, besides four attackers who also died. The interior minister said most of those killed Thursday were students but included two police officers, one soldier and two watchmen. 
 
 The disaster center said plans are underway to evacuate students and other affected persons. 
 
 It was by far the highest death toll in an attack by al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group from neighboring Somalia, on Kenyan soil. 
 
 9:15 p.m. (1815 GMT, 2:15 p.m. EDT) 
 
 Kenyan security officials at the scene of an attack by Islamic extremists on a college in northeast Kenya say the security operation to free hostages is over and that the death toll may be as high as around 150. Dozens of hostages were freed, they said, with four of the gunmen killed. The gunfire has ended, according to Associated Press reporters near the scene. 
 
 Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said gave the death at 70 but conceded that it could go higher. Police officials who could insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the press said the toll could be as high as about 150 
 
 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. 
 
 7:10 p.m. (1610 GMT, 12:10 p.m. EDT) 
 
 Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery says that more than 70 people have been killed in an attack by Somali-based Islamic extremists on a college in northeast Kenya. 
 
 Nkaissery said that 79 people were wounded in the attack Thursday and four suspected attackers have been killed. He told reporters the total number of the attackers is still unknown and that security agents are fighting them at Garissa University College. 
 
 The minister ordered a dusk to dawn curfew in Garissa and in the nearby counties of Wajir, Tana River and Mandera. 
 
 Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. 
 
 The death toll now surpasses the 67 who were killed in al-Shabab's attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September 2013. 
 
 6: 35 p.m. (1535 GMT, 11:35 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Kenya's interior ministry says two of the gunmen who attacked a college in northeast Kenya have been killed. 
 
 In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said Thursday: "Two terrorists have been neutralised in the ongoing operation. Security agencies intensify rescue operation." 
 
 Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said that most students at Garissa University College that was attacked by al-Shabab gunmen remain unaccounted for, more than 11 hours after the attack started. 
 
 Nkaissery said: "Garissa University college has a student population of 815 and about 60 members of teaching staff, as of now we are able to account for 292 students and all the staff." 
 
 The known death toll from the attack by the Islamic extremists is now 17, with the deaths of two of the attackers. An unknown number of hostages are being held. Many students scattered when the attack began at 5:30 a.m. 
 
 5:40 p.m. (1440 GMT, 10:40 a.m. EDT) 
 
 The man whom Kenyan police say was a possible mastermind of the attack on a college in northeast Kenya is currently in charge of al-Shabab's external operations against Kenya, according to Kenya's intelligence service. 
 
 Kenyan police have offered a $220,000 bounty for Mohammed Mohamud, who has the aliases Dulyadin and Gamadhere. They believe he is the mastermind of the attack on a college in Garissa, in northeast Kenya. At least 15 have died in Thursday's attack, which has turned into a hostage situation. 
 
 Mohamud was a teacher at a madrassa, or Islamic religious school, for several years. He claimed responsibility for the Nov. 22, 2014, bus attack in Makka, Kenya, in which 28 people were killed. 
 
 4:45 p.m. (1345 GMT, 9:45 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Kenyan police have offered a $220,000 bounty for Mohammed Mohamud, also known as Dulyadin alias Gamadhere whom they believe is the mastermind of the attack on a college in Garissa, in northeast Kenya. 
 
 Al-Shabab gunmen attacked Garissa University College on Thursday, targeting Christians and killing at least 15 people and wounding 60 others. Witnesses said the gunmen said they were from al-Shabab, a Somali extremist Islamic group, and the group has claimed responsibility for the attack. 
 
 4 p.m. (1300 GMT, 9 a.m. EDT) 
 
 President Uhuru Kenyatta says the government has deployed security forces try to end a hostage situation more than nine hours since al-Shabab gunmen attacked a college in northeast Kenya. 
 
 At least 15 people were killed and 60 wounded Thursday in the attack on Garissa University College. 
 
 Kenyatta said in an address to the nation he had directed the police chief to fast-track the training of 10,000 police recruits whose enro'lment is pending. 
 
 He said Kenya had "suffered unnecessarily due to shortage of security personnel." 
 
 3: 40 p.m. (1240 GMT, 8: 40 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Kenya's president says hostages have been taken in the attack on a college in the northeastern town of Garissa. 
 
 In a speech to the nation President Kenyatta Uhuru said: "I am saddened to inform the Nation that early today, terrorists attacked Garissa University College killed and wounded several people and have taken others hostage." 
 
 He said details would be forthcoming "in due course" from security officials. 
 
 2: 50 p.m. (1150 GMT, 7:50 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Kenya's Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery says one suspected extremist was arrested as he attempted to flee the scene of an al-Shabab attack on a college in northeast Kenya. One survivor said he personally saw five gunmen at the Garissa University College. Nkaissery made the announcement in a press conference in Nairobi, the capital. 
 
 2: 35 p.m. (11:35 GMT, 7:35 a.m. EDT) 
 
 Michael Bwana, a 20-year-old student who managed to flee from the al-Shabab attack on a college in Kenya, said he and other survivors have been trying to call their trapped friends but their phones are switched off. 
 
 Either the students turned off their phones for their own safety or the gunmen have seized the handsets, he said. 
 
 "Most of the people still inside there are girls," he told The Associated Press, referring to the student dormitory in which gunmen are believed to be holding an unknown number of students.
– The siege at a college in northeast Kenya is finally over, but the death toll has risen to at least 147, reports Reuters. The vast majority of victims were believed to be students at Garissa University College. Authorities say that four gunmen, believed to belong to the al-Shabab extremist group from neighboring Somalia, also are dead, reports AP. They reportedly stormed the school's dormitories this morning and began separating students into Muslim and non-Muslim groups, reports the New York Times. Kenyan security forces eventually launched a raid to free the hostages, and it remains unclear exactly how all the victims died. The death toll far surpasses the 67 who were killed in al-Shabab's attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall in 2013.