Students are also marching in Nairobi, saying they can no longer live under the threat of attack. (BBC)
About 2,500 people have marched in Kenya’s Garissa town in a show of defiance against militant Islamist group al-Shabab following its deadly assault on a local university.
Muslims and Christians took part in the march, vowing to remain united against the al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants, says a BBC reporter in Garissa.
The assault on Garissa University on Thursday killed 148 people.
Five Kenyans have appeared in court for suspected links with the attackers.
The court in the capital, Nairobi, agreed to the prosecution’s request to detain them for another 30 days, while police investigate whether they supplied weapons to the attackers, Kenya’s Capital FM reports.
A sixth suspect, a Tanzanian, is being held in Garissa.
Last Thursday’s attack was the deadliest in Kenya by al-Shabab, which was formed in neighboring Somalia about eight years ago.
The militants have promised a “long, gruesome war” against Kenya after Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight them.
The BBC’s Bashkash Jugsooda’ay reports from Garissa, about 150km (90 miles) from the border with Somalia, that protesters promised to co-operate with the security forces to flush out militants who may be hiding in their community.
However, they were also critical of the security forces, saying they were slow in their response to the assault. They pointed out that both the army and police had bases in Garissa, the main town in the north-east.
Read the full story at bbc.com
