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Pakistan debates military involvement in Yemen

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Parliament discusses request by Riyadh for fighter jets as Saudi-led coalition continues to bomb Houthi positions.

Rival Pakistani rallies have been held for and against the Saudi-led campaign on Yemen [Reuters]

Rival Pakistani rallies have been held for and against the Saudi-led campaign on Yemen [Reuters]

by Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera

Islamabad: Saudi Arabia has asked for Pakistani fighter jets, ground troops and naval warships to join its campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, Pakistan’s defence minister has said.

Khwaja Asif was addressing a joint session of the Pakistani parliament, which met in Islamabad on Monday to begin a debate on whether to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, where air strikes against Houthi rebels have been ongoing since March 25.

Pakistan has regularly voiced support for the Saudi mission, but has so far not committed to taking material part in the air strikes against the Houthis, who are said to be backed by one of Pakistan’s neighbours, Iran.

Saudi officials and state media, however, have been citing Pakistan as one of 10 countries that are actively engaged in the military campaign in Yemen.

Asif said that while no decision had yet been taken on joining the military coalition, “any violation of Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity would elicit a strong response from Pakistan”, echoing the position publicly stated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif repeatedly in the last week.

Terming the Houthi rebels “non-state actors”, who had overthrown the “legitimate” Yemeni government, led by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Asif stressed that Pakistan, along with regional ally Turkey, was calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“The situation is grave and might endanger the safety and security of the whole region,” Asif said.

In the last week, more than 980 Pakistanis have been evacuated from Yemen by the Pakistani government, which has sent commercial aircraft and naval ships to aid in this effort, in conjunction with Saudi military authorities. The country is host to approximately 3,000 Pakistanis.

‘Give peace a chance’

Asif, along with Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and several high-ranking military personnel, visited Saudi Arabia on March 31 to discuss the situation in Yemen.

While there, he told parliament, the Pakistani delegation assured Saudi officials that Pakistan would protect Saudi territory if need be, but that it was pursuing the path of dialogue, and wanted “to give peace a chance”.

He confirmed that during this visit, Saudi officials had “requested us for aircraft, naval vessels and ground troops”.

PM Sharif met his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Friday, where the leaders discussed possible diplomatic solutions to the crisis in Yemen, in addition to expressing support for Saudi Arabia.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is due to visit Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the crisis.

Muslim-majority Pakistan is a long time ally of Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. It is also a major recipient of Saudi aid.

Pakistan has been walking a tight rope on the issue, analysts say, balancing its alliance with Saudi Arabia against the possibility of military involvement souring relations with neighbour Iran and possibly inflaming sectarian tensions at home.

Pakistan’s military is also currently engaged in ongoing operations against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its allies in the country’s tribal areas, with roughly 170,000 troops committed to that fight, in addition to fighter jets, the defence minister said on Monday.

The session adjourned late on Monday without a resolution being passed, and Speaker Ayaz Sadiq reconvened the debate for Tuesday morning.

UN: 100,000 new displaced in Yemen since strikes began

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UNICEF says majority of those that have fled their homes since conflict escalated are women and children.

yemen

by Al Jazeera

More than a 100,000 people have fled their homes after Saudi-led coalition air strikes began in Yemen, according to UNICEF.

A spokesman from the UN agency, Rajat Madhok, told Al Jazeera that most of those who have been displaced are women and children.

“Most displacements have taken place from and within al-Dhale, Abyan, Amran, Saada, Hajja. The displaced persons are mostly being hosted with relatives,” Madhok said.

In a statement published on Tuesday, UNICEF, the UN agency that provides humanitarian assistance to children and mothers, said 74 children caught up in fighting had been killed and another 44 maimed since March 26.

“These are conservative figures and UNICEF believes that the total number of children killed is much higher,” the statement read.

The agency’s Yemen representative, Julien Harneis, said children were paying an “intolerable” price, and said more needed to be done to protect them.

“These children should be immediately afforded special respect and protection by all parties to the conflict, in line with international humanitarian law,” Harneis said.

Aden clashes

The comments came as Houthi rebels and forces backing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi engaged in fierce clashes in the country’s south, reportedly leaving more than 140 people dead in 24 hours on Monday.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, spokesperson for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera that the number of civilian casualties was not yet clear.

“We don’t have a clear account of the number of civilians being killed but obviously the number is increasing due to the strikes and also the humanitarian situation is deteriorating due to the siege and strikes hitting food storages,” he said.

Aden is a power base for Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia as the fighters from the Zaydi Shia sect expanded their control across the country.

As thousands are in dire need of aid, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said that one passenger plane carrying staff was able to land in the capital Sanaa on Monday, but that the organisation has not yet been able to find a cargo plane operator to fly supplies into the country.

Sitara Jabeen, the ICRC’s spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the humanitarian situation was worsening.

“The situation in Yemen remains extremely critical. The conflict … has intensified, especially in Aden. We are still trying to find a cargo plane that can carry our supplies to Sanaa,” said Jabeen, speaking from Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition has bombed Houthi positions since March 26 and has dropped weapons to Hadi loyalists, but the rebels continue to put up resistance and have said they will accept peace talks only if the aerial attacks stop.

The Houthis swept into Sanaa in September and put Hadi under house arrest before he fled to Aden and then to Saudi Arabia. Backed by militias loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, they control large swaths of Yemen, which is also grappling with al-Qaeda.

As Death Toll and Chaos Mount in Yemen, Red Cross Calls for Ceasefire

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‘The streets of Aden are strewn with dead bodies, and people are afraid to leave their homes,’ says Red Cross

A Houthi fighter mans a weapon on a patrol truck as he guards the site of a demonstration against Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa April 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi)

A Houthi fighter mans a weapon on a patrol truck as he guards the site of a demonstration against Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa April 3, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Amid ongoing Saudi-led airstrikes—including a bombing Friday that killed at least nine people from the same Yemeni family—the United Nations is considering calls for a ceasefire in Yemen to allow urgent humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation of civilians.

And on Sunday, Reuters cited a senior Houthi member who said the Houthis “are ready to sit down for peace talks as long as a Saudi-led air campaign is halted and the negotiations are overseen by ‘non-aggressive’ parties.”

Warplanes and ships from a Saudi-led coalition have been bombing the Iran-allied Houthi forces for 11 days.

However, as Juan Cole notes, the airstrikes “have repeatedly hit civilian neighborhoods in cities like Sanaa and have, intentionally or no, struck soft targets of no obvious military value, including a refugee camp.”

Hundreds have reportedly died, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in its appeal for an immediate “humanitarian pause,” describedharrowing conditions for civilians.

The Red Cross said, “hospitals and clinics treating the streams of wounded from across much of Yemen are running low on life-saving medicines and equipment. In many parts of the country, the population is also suffering from fuel and water shortages, while food stocks are quickly depleting. Dozens of people are being killed and wounded every day. The streets of Aden are strewn with dead bodies, and people are afraid to leave their homes.”

Summer Nasser, a human rights activist and blogger in Aden, told Al Jazeerathat it seemed the humanitarian crisis in that city “is actually getting worse by the hour.”

If relief supplies and medical personnel are unable to reach affected areas, Robert Mardini, head of Red Cross operations in the Near and Middle East, warned that “many more will die.”

Russia similarly appealed to the United Nations Security Council, pressing for suspensions of the airstrikes to allow evacuation of foreign civilians and diplomats and demanding rapid and unhindered humanitarian access. The council met Saturday in New York to consider the proposal, but made no decisions.

BBC reports that the council’s president, Dina Kawar, who is also Jordan’s UN ambassador, said members needed time to “reflect on the proposal.”

According to Al Jazeera:

Saudi Arabian Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, a spokesman for the Arab coalition, told a news conference that aid “will come when we are able to set the conditions [so] that this aid will benefit the population”.

He said the coalition requires that aid delivery does not interfere with the military operation, that aid workers are not put at risk, and that supplies do not fall into the wrong hands.

“We don’t want to supply the militias,” Asiri said.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that three Arab-American advocacy groups—The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus (ALC)—have created StuckInYemen.com as part of a campaign to highlight the plight of Yemeni Americans, currently trapped in the war-torn country, who fear they have been abandoned by their own government.

Bangladeshi Jamaat leader loses appeal against hanging

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Rejection of Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s final appeal sparks deadly clash between party supporters and police.

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced for war crimes including a mass killing at a site that has become known as the 'Village of Widows' [AP]

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced for war crimes including a mass killing at a site that has become known as the ‘Village of Widows’ [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has rejected a final appeal by a Jamaat-e-Islami leader to overturn his death sentence for atrocities committed more than 40 years ago, clearing the last legal hurdle to his execution.

Chief Justice S K Sinha ruled that the review petition was “dismissed”, upholding Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s original death sentence for genocide and torture of unarmed civilians during the 1971 war of independence.

Monday’s ruling sparked clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami party supporters and police in Bangladesh’s southeastern Noakhali district.

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdury reported that one person was killed and another was injured in the Noakhali riots.

The party also called for a nationwide 48-hour strike from Tuesday to protest against the decision.

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to hang in May 2013 by a domestic war crimes court for crimes including a mass killing at a site that has become known as the “Village of Widows”.

An appeal court in November last year upheld the verdict, raising the prospect of his becoming the second Jamaat leader to be hanged for war crimes.

Abdul Quader Molla was executed in December, 2013.

‘Notorious war criminal’

Lawyers for Kamaruzzaman, who is the third most senior member of the Jamaat, made a last legal appeal arguing that there were “serious discrepancies” in the testimonies of prosecution witnesses at his trial.

Secular activists who attended the brief court session were pleased with the verdict.

“We’re happy. He is a notorious war criminal. We made several attempts during the 1971 war to capture him. But finally he is caught by the court,” Anwar Hossain, who fought in the independence war, told the AFP news agency.

“We hope he’ll be executed [in] the quickest time possible,” he added.

The 62-year-old’s only chance of avoiding the gallows will be if he is granted clemency by the country’s president.

“He can now seek clemency from the president but it is up to him whether he wants to seek mercy or not,” his lawyer Shishir Monir said.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told AFP that prison authorities would now ask Kamaruzzaman whether he would seek clemency from the president.

“If he refuses, he could be hanged at any moment,” he said.

Molla was executed just hours after his review petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Under Bangladesh’s law, the execution of the accused could be carried out within 21 days and before 28 days of the Supreme Court’s upholding of a death sentence.

The upholding of Kamaruzzaman’s execution order could worsen the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh, which has been hit by deadly protests over the opposition’s bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The country suffered its deadliest chapter of political violence in 2013 after the war crimes court handed down a series of death sentences to Jamaat leaders for their role in the 1971 conflict, which saw the then east Pakistan secede from the regime in Islamabad.

Opposition parties say the war crimes trials are politically motivated and aimed at settling scores, while rights groups say the trials have fallen short of international standards.

Hasina’s secular government maintains they are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict, which it says left three million people dead.

Independent experts have estimated the death toll was much lower.

Kenya strikes al-Shabab in Somalia after Garissa attack

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Military targets al-Shabab bases in Somalia following attack on Garissa university that killed 148 people.

Kenya's president vowed to retaliate for the 'mindless slaughter' at Garissa in the 'severest way' [Reuters]

Kenya’s president vowed to retaliate for the ‘mindless slaughter’ at Garissa in the ‘severest way’ [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Kenya’s military has launched air strikes against al-Shabab bases in Somalia following an attack on a Kenyan university that killed 148 people.

Colonel David Obonyo, a military spokesman, said on Monday that warplanes had attacked positions of the al-Shabab group on Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning.

Al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack on the Garissa University College campus in northeastern Kenya.

After besieging the university, the al-Shabab gunmen lined up non-Muslim students before executing them in the armed group’s bloodiest attack to date.

The attack claimed the lives of 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday pledged that the attackers would face justice for the “mindless slaughter” and vowed to retaliate for the killings in the “severest way”.

Previous strikes

Monday’s air strikes were not the first launched by Kenya against al-Shabab targets.

In June last year, Kenyan fighter jets attacked two bases belonging to al-Shabab fighters in Somalia, killing at least 80 of them, according to African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops deployed there.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose soldiers launched a new offensive against al-Shabab last year, said the Kenyan jets carried out the raids on Anole and Kuday in Somalia’s southern Lower Jubba region.

Kenya first sent its troops into neighbouring Somalia in 2011 after several attacks inside its territory that it blamed on al-Shabab. It later joined the AMISOM peacekeeping force.

Al-Shabab has since carried out a string of attacks to punish Kenya for its intervention, including a raid on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September 2013 that killed at least 67 people.

Kenya responded the following November by “completely destroying” an al-Shabab training camp about 300km west of the Somali capital Mogadishu, which was believed to have housed more than 300 al-Shabab recruits.

Al-Shabab threatens more attacks in Kenya after Garissa

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Somali armed group that attacked university killing 148 on Thursday warns that Kenyan cities will “run red with blood”.

by Al Jazeera

kenya-attack-Al-Shabab

Al-Shabab, the Somali armed group that carried out a deadly attack on a Kenyan university killing 148 people on Thursday, has threatened to stage more attacks in the country.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the group warned Kenyans that their cities will “run red with blood”.

“No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath from occurring in your cities,” the statement read.

Four al-Shabab fighters stormed the Garissa University College campus in what appeared to be an extensively planned out attack, which the group says was to avenge Kenya’s involvement in Somalia.

Kenya’s interior ministry said the dead included 142 students, three policemen and three soldiers.

The ministry said on Saturday that five men – suspected accomplices – were arrested in connection with the attack.

Surviving students have been taken to a military camp, waiting to be bussed home as the university has been indefinitely closed.

Christine Onyongo, one of the survivors, told Al Jazeera that she had heard the attackers threatening female students that they would be burnt. Women were then let out, holding their hands up.

She said the men were treated more harshly, “especially those who were arguing”.

“They were just slaughtering them,” she said..

Like many other students, Onyongo said she would not come back to Garissa.

“After what I saw, not me – I can’t come back.”

Survivor found

A clean-up operation was going on as security personnel searched the university complex for more survivors and bodies on Saturday.

A female student, 19-year-old Cynthia was found alive.

“I just hid on top of a wardrobe the whole time. I could hear them shouting and shooting,” she told Al Jazeera. “At some point they came to our hostel and took two of my friends. I just hid and hid and when I got hungry ate some body lotion that was in a paper bag.”

The attack, in which all four assailants were killed, was the deadliest on Kenya’s soil since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, which killed more than 200 people.

Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 following cross-border raids and attacks on its coastal towns blamed on al-Shabab.

In September 2013, 67 people were killed as al-Shabab besieged a shopping mall in Nairobi.

Anger over the Garissa massacre was compounded by the fact there were warnings last week that an attack on a university was imminent. Local residents accused the authorities of doing little to boost security in the little-developed region.

Garissa resident Kabange Kimani said there had been promises of increased security before.

“An attack happens, we are reassured of security. Security will be beefed up. Some high-profile figures will come from Nairobi. They land here for a few hours and go back, only for this thing to happen a few days later,” he told Al Jazeera.

But Nathif Adam, the governor of Garissa county, said the government is doing its best.

“I think it’s not fair to say that security is not doing well,” Adam told Al Jazeera. “I can confidently say that the Kenya security team and officials are doing their best possible. The only unfortunate thing is that here you’re fighting guerrilla type terrorism which can attack anytime, anywhere.

“The level of preparedness of government is adequate […] but this is an international terrorist group.”

In Yemen, Red Cross reports aid blockade by Saudi air campaign as medics say 185 lives lost in Aden battle

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A UN count earlier this week estimates some 519 people have been killed and almost 1,700 wounded in Yemen in the last two weeks. (AFP/File)

A UN count earlier this week estimates some 519 people have been killed and almost 1,700 wounded in Yemen in the last two weeks. (AFP/File)

by Al Bawaba

Heavy clashes between rival militias has left at least 185 people dead and wounded 1,200 others in Yemen’s port city of Aden, a medical official told the AFP Saturday.

Despite the toll coming from the latest battles between warring militias in the ciy, the medical official believes some two thirds of Aden’s casualties are civilians.

The last stronghold for embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Aden has been a strategic battleground for Shiite Houthi rebels and the pro-government militias trying to restore Hadi’s control on the ground with help from Saudi-led coalition air power above.

Aden Health Department Director Al-Kheder Lassouar told the news agency the casualty and injury count, came from local hospitals, who began tracking the numbers on March 26, and refers only to casualties that occured as a result of militia clashes in Aden. The count does not include casualties from the side of the Houthis and their allies, the director explained, as they often do not bring their injured to public hospitals, and also excludes death tolls resulting from Saudi-led airstrikes in the country.

Under the weight of a mounting injury and death count, Lassouar said the city’s hospitals were inn eed of international assistance and supplies.

A UN count given Thursday estimates some 519 people have died and almost 1,700 wounded across the war-torn country in the last two weeks, but did not specify whether the number also included fighters.

Since Saudi Arabia launched its air campaign against the Houthis on March 26, international powers have voiced concern about the escalating humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country. The International Red Cross said Saturday three aid and medical staff shipments have been blocked from entering Yemen because of the Saudi-led coalition, Reuters reported, which is currently in control of the war-torn nation’s air space and port access.

The international aid organization is seeking secure air space for two planes carrying bulk medical supplies and medical and water sanitation items to the capital Sanaa, in addition to a boat to carry a surgical team to Aden. The group says Saudi’s coalition has so far blocked their efforts. Fellow aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres has made similar claims against the coalition, saying restictions on Yemeni air space and port access has prevented them from delivering vital medical supplies to civilians trapped between the warring groups across the chaotic country.

The claims come on the heels of a Russian push for humanitarian pauses in the Saudi air campaign to minimize the crushing blow to civilian lives the deepening crisis has caused so far. The 15-member UN Security Council will meet Saturday in the US to discuss Russia’s request.

Iran and world powers strike initial nuclear deal

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Agreement will curb Iran’s nuclear programme and end most sanctions imposed on country.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said a "decisive step" has been achieved [Reuters]

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said a “decisive step” has been achieved [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The United States, Iran and five other world powers have sealed a breakthrough framework agreement outlining limits on Iran’s nuclear programme to keep it from being able to produce atomic weapons.

Reading out a joint statement on Thursday evening, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said a “decisive step” has been achieved.

“This is a crucial decision laying the agreed basis for the final text of joint comprehensive plan of action. We can now start drafting the text and annexes,” said Mogherini, who has acted as a coordinator for the six powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

The US and Iran each hailed the efforts of their diplomats over eight days of marathon talks in Swiss city of Lausanne.

Speaking at the White House, US President Barack Obama called it a “good deal” that would address concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The US president said that the US and its allies had “reached a historic understanding with Iran”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called it a “win-win outcome”.

The Islamic Republic has been promised an end to years of crippling economic sanctions, but only if negotiators transform the plan into a comprehensive pact by June 30.

‘Solid foundation’

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreement in Lausanne was a “solid foundation for a good deal”.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Lausanne, said that US diplomats still faced the challenge of convincing opposition Republican dissenters in Congress, and its strongest ally, Israel, that the deal was sufficient.

“There are a lot of places where this deal will not be accepted and one of those is Israel,” Bays said.

Obama said his security officials would be working with Israel and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to make sure their concerns are addressed.

Iranians celebrate on a street in northern Tehran the nuclear agreement with world powers in Lausanne [The Associated Press]

Israel voiced its “strong opposition” to the deal. In a phone conversation with Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a final deal based on this agreement “would threaten the survival of Israel”.

House Speaker John Boehner said it would be “naive to suggest the Iranian regime will not continue to use its nuclear programme, and any economic relief, to further destabilize the region.”

But Obama said that the issues at stake are “bigger than politics”.

“These are matters of war and peace,” he said, and if Congress kills the agreement “international unity will collapse, and the path to conflict will widen.”

The deal will limit Iran’s nuclear activity to the Natanz plant and reduce the number of centrifuges it operates from 19,000 today to just over 6,104.

Iran has also agreed to not build any new facilities for the purpose of enriching uranium for 15 years.

Zarif said the countries had agreed an elaborate mechanism if any of the parties to the agreement “returned to old practices” and reneged on their obligations.

“We will not allow excuses that will allow a return to the old system,” Zarif said.

Mogherini said the seven nations would now start writing the text of a final accord.

She cited several agreed-upon restrictions on Iran’s enrichment of material that can be used either for energy production or in nuclear warheads. She said Iran will not produce weapons-grade plutonium.

Sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programmes would be suspended by the US, the United Nations and the European Union after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Iran’s compliance.

 

Al-Shabab siege of Kenya university leaves 147 dead

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Day-long siege of campus in northeastern town comes to bloody end, with mostly students killed.

kenya-attack-Al-Shabab

by Al Jazeera

At least 147 people have been killed after Kenyan troops cleared a university dormitory in the town of Garissa in northeast Kenya that had been seized by al-Shabab gunmen, the interior ministry says.

Members of the Somalia-based group attacked the campus after dawn on Thursday and were holed up in a dormitory with hostages until the evening.

Officials said 79 students had been injured in the attack, and 587 had been evacuated.

Security forces had encircled the building exchanging sporadic bursts of gunfire with the fighters inside, who were believed to have been holding scores of students hostage.

Witnesses told Al Jazeera they heard heavy gunfire and saw smoke coming from the campus on Thursday evening as the standoff came to an end.

Joseph Nkaissery, the interior minister, said four attackers had strapped themselves with explosives.

A female student who escaped the hostage drama told Al Jazeera that she had stepped over more bodies than she could count as she got out of the university.

Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from Garissa, said security officials were now working on identifying bodies and moving them to the morgue.

The attack was the worst in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi by al-Qaeda, when 213 people were killed by a huge truck bomb.

In 2013, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on the Westgate mall that left 67 people dead.

Thursday’s assault began when the first grenades were used before dawn to blast open the gates of the university, near the border with war-torn Somalia.

The masked gunmen then stormed the university as students were sleeping in their dormitories, shooting dead dozens before taking hostages. Al-Shabab said it had set Muslims free and captured Christians.

The al-Qaeda-linked group said the assault was launched in revenge for Kenya sending troops to fight al-Shabab in Somalia.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said the lack of security infrastructure had contributed to the crisis.

“We have suffered unnecessarily due to a shortage of security personnel. Kenya needs additional officers, and I will not keep the nation waiting,” he said.

After the attack, the country’s interior ministry announced a 12-hour curfew starting at 6.30pm in Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, and Tana River counties.

Rescued hostages were treated at a nearby hospital [Alinoor Moulid Bosh/Al Jazeera]

Security forces surrounded the campus after gunmen opened fire indiscriminately in campus hostels [AP]

Al Qaeda frees 300 inmates in Yemen jailbreak

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Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jai. — Reuters/file

Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jai. — Reuters/file

Aden: In a surprise attack, Al Qaeda militants stormed a prison in southeastern Yemen on Thursday, freeing several hundred inmates including one of their leaders, a security official said.

Two prison guards and five inmates were killed in clashes, the official said.

Qaeda militants stormed the center of the city of al-Mukalla, the capital of the southeastern province of Hadramawt, which was still controlled by pro-Hadi forces.

The militants also clashed with troops guarding the local adminstration complex in the city, a branch of the central bank and the police headquarters.

Khalid Batarfi, a senior Al Qaeda figure who had been held for more than four years, was among more than 300 prisoners who escaped from the jail in Hadramawt province, the official told AFP.

Batarfi is among Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) top regional commanders, known for his leading role in a 2011-2012 battle with Yemeni government troops during which extremists seized swathes of territory in the south and east.

The remote area is also the ancestral home of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose father was born in a valley before moving to neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has descended further into chaos since a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes a week ago against positions held by Shia rebels and their allies across the deeply tribal country.

Observers have warned that Yemen-based AQAP, classified by the United States as the network’s deadliest franchise, could exploit the unrest to strengthen its presence in the country.

(Agencies)

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