A simulated terror attack at a Kenyan university resulted in such panic that more than 30 people were injured and one woman died, officials said.

Police arranged a press conference on Tuesday morning in a bid to deal with growing public anger at the disastrous drill, which Strathmore University said was designed to “test the preparedness of the university community”.

In a statement, the Nairobi institution identified the woman who died as 33-year-old Esther Kidambi, a staff member working in its catering department.

Staff and students fled in panic after apparently unidentified gunmen repeatedly fired blanks into the air without warning.

Witnesses described a stampede, with people wading away from the campus across a river, throwing themselves out of high windows or hiding and calling loved-ones.

Ms Kidambi died from head injuries after jumping from a third floor window, according to the local Star newspaper. Others suffered broken legs, including a professor who jumped from the fourth floor.

While there were apparently some messages on security services’ social media accounts declaring a terror drill would take place at a “major university” in the Kenyan capital the day before.

But the vast majority were unaware of the planned drill, and as of Monday night the university said 31 students and staff injured in the panic to escape were being treated across three hospitals.

One tutor at Strathmore said students, who had also not been informed about the security drill, panicked in fear that the exercise was an attack by al-Shabaab militants like the one at Garissa University earlier this year.

“I heard two gunshots,” she said. “Everyone started running, I grabbed whatever I could.”

A student told the Star: “I ran into a classroom, but the gunshots still intensified, so I jumped through the window and saw some of my colleagues also trying to jump in the same manner.”

Betty Ngala, a spokeswoman for the university, said teams of security marshals had been prepared for the drill and “trained on evacuation, assembly points and exit points”.

“This simulation was aimed at testing the preparedness of the university community and emergency team in the event of an attack.