Kenya Massacre Survivor Hid In Cupboard For 48hrs

A STUDENT who cowered in a cupboard while Islamic
extremists massacred her classmates at a Kenyan university
emerged yesterday after two days in hiding.
Cynthia Cheroitich, 19, a survivor of the attack on Garissa
University College
Cynthia Cheroitich, 19, escaped death by sneaking into the
large closet and covering herself with clothes as the
terrorists rounded up Christians and began shooting them.
She spent almost 48 hours in hiding, sipping lotion to
quench her thirst and praying.
A total of 148 people died in the bloodiest outrage yet
committed by the Somali-based Al Shabaab group in their
increasingly violent onslaught against neighbouring Kenya.
The teenager was still too scared to leave the safety of the
classroom cupboard yesterday morning, fearing the outrage
was still continuing at Garissa University College close to the
border with Somalia.
So security forces had to find a lecturer to persuade her to
come out.
Last night, in hospital, she revealed she did not at first
believe the friendly voices were those of rescuers.
“How do I know that you are the police?” she said she told
them before recognising the voice of one of her teachers.
After Thursday’s massacre the killers called the father of a
victim to taunt him.
Fred Musinai said: “The caller was
using my daughter’s phone.
"He said the Kenyan army had
killed their women and children
and this was a revenge mission.”
Kenya has put a £150,000 bounty
on suspected ringleader
Mohamed Mohamud.
As three new suspects were held yesterday, Al Shabaab
vowed to step up the violence.
“No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to
guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent
another bloodbath,” it said.
“This will be a long, gruesome war of which you, the Kenyan
public, are its first casualties.”
The outrage has piled pressure on Kenyan president Uhuru
Kenyatta, who is struggling to stem the violence that has
dented the country’s image and destroyed its tourist
industry.
More than 400 people have been killed by Al Shabaab on
Kenyan soil since he took power in April 2013, including 67
in a siege at a Nairobi shopping mall.
Commentators say frequent mass arrests of Kenya’s Somali
population play into Al Shabaab’s hands and fuel
resentment among Muslims.
Survivors of the latest attack said the killers were speaking
Kenya’s Swahili language, rarely spoken in Somalia, making
it likely the raid was carried out by home-grown gunmen.