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NAIROBI, Kenya — Al-Shabab gunmen attacked a college in northeast Kenya early Thursday, targeting Christians and leaving 147 dead.

Security officials at the scene say the security operation to free hostages at Garissa University College is over.

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Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said 79 people were wounded in the attack Thursday and four suspected attackers had been killed.

The minister ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Garissa and in the nearby counties of Wajir, Tana River and Mandera.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.

The death toll far surpassed the 67 who were killed in al-Shabab’s attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September 2013.

Survivors described to The Associated Press a harrowing scene, where people were mercilessly gunned down and bullets whistled through the air as they ran for their lives.

Collins Wetangula, the vice chairman of the student union, said he was preparing to take a shower when he heard gunshots coming from Tana dorm, which hosts both men and women, 150 metres away. The campus has six dorms and at least 887 students, he said.

He said that when he heard the gunshots he locked himself and three roommates in their room.

“All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots. Nobody was screaming because they thought this would lead the gunmen to know where they are,” he said. “The gunmen were saying sisi ni al-Shabab (Swaihi for ‘We are al-Shabab’),” Wetangula said.