Militant Gunmen Storm Kenyan University, Take Christian Hostages

Militant gunmen reportedly stormed a university in eastern Kenya on Thursday, taking hostages and reportedly targeting Christians. The government reports that 15 were killed in the attack.

The attack took place at around 5:30 a.m. Thursday at Garissa University College in eastern Kenya, when masked gunmen wielding automatic weapons reportedly stormed dormitories and began shooting at students and faculty.

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said in a brief statement that the terrorist group al-Shabab had taken responsibility for the attack.

The Kenya Red Cross also reported Thursday that the militants had taken an "unknown number of student hostages," and that about "50 students have been safely freed."

A spokesman for the terror group told the AFP via telephone that the students being held hostage are Christian. The attackers reportedly separated Muslims from Christians and then let the Muslim students go free.

While an undisclosed number of students are being held hostage inside one of the college's buildings, a spokesman for the local Garissa government told The New York Times that gunmen could be seen guarding the university from rooftops.

"There are gunmen mounted on top of one of the dormitory buildings," Abdikadir Sugow, the spokesman for the Garissa county government, told the media outlet.

Sugow added that the gunmen appear to be wearing "combat gear," including "either bulletproof vests or suicide bomb vests."

Robert Alai Onyango, a blogger in Nairobi, told CNN that there were likely 10 gunmen who attacked the university.

"We don't know how many there were, but there are probably more than 10," Onyango said. "We believe the attackers were wearing something close to military fatigues."