Suspects in Kenya university attack appear in court

Jane Onyanga-Omara,

(Photo: AP)

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Five suspects arrested in connection with a terror attack at a Kenyan university that killed 148 people appeared in court Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.
Police have accused the suspects of supplying guns to the four gunmen who carried out the attack at Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya on Thursday. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group, based in neighboring Somalia, has taken responsibility.
The court granted police 30 more days to investigate the suspects — Mohammed Adan Surow, Osman Abdi Dakane, Mohammed Abdi Abikar, Hassan Aden Hassan and Sahal Diriye Hussien — before any charges can be brought.

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The police also said they want more time to investigate a sixth suspect, Tanzanian national Rashid Charles Mberekesho, who is being held in Garissa.
The gunmen were killed after security forces stormed the university.
Around 250 students gathered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Tuesday to honor those who died and to demand better security on campuses and around the country. They stopped at President Uhuru Kenyatta's office building to present their demands.
Their demands include state compensation for the families of the victims, and a memorial for the dead.
Many of the students held flowers and lit candles.
Security services have faced criticism for a slow response to the attack. The country's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed on Monday told CNN that the response was "adequate."

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Nairobi Universiy engineering student Maureen Mucheri, 21, told the AFP news agency that she refuses to go to malls and churches because "the government is doing nothing."
She added: "We are mourning the loss of our fellow comrades, we have lost the vibrant blood that would have built tomorrow's Kenya."
Walter Mutai, 22, a statistics student at Moi University in Eldoret, western Kenya, said: "We might be next. These people, they can target anywhere."
Kenya launched airstrikes on two Islamic militant camps in Somalia on Monday in retaliation for the attack on the university. No casualty reports related to the airstrikes were immediately released.
Al-Shabab said the attack was a reprisal for Kenyan efforts to put down the Islamic insurgency in Somalia. The group's leaders have warned of a "long, gruesome war" unless Kenya withdrew its troops from Somalia.
Contributing: John Bacon, Associated Press