Deadly Kenya stampede sparked by fears of Al Shabab campus attack

A Kenyan student died and more than 100 were injured Sunday in a stampede caused by an electrical explosion sparking fears of an attack similar to that which killed scores earlier this month, officials said.

Students jumped from windows at their University of Nairobi residence halls or rushed out in an incident that underlined growing tensions just over a week after gunmen stormed another university campus, killing 148 people.

"I could see the students jumping and one of them landed on his head," said third-year student Felix Muriuki. Others said there were three loud blasts, plunging the dormitory into darkness, which heightened the panic among the students.

"We thought it was another Al Shabab attack," said Eddy Capella, a first-year student.

The dead student was among those who had tried to jump to safety at the Kikuyu campus, university vice chancellor Peter Mbithi told Reuters.

"We have lost one male student who fell from fifth floor," Mbithi said outside the emergency section of the country's main public hospital, Kenyatta National.

Kenya Power, the country's main electricity distributor, said the explosion was caused by overloaded underground cable. Initial witness accounts had said a transformer exploded.

Kikuyu students called on the government to do more to secure all universities.

"I’m not feeling 100 percent safe on campus but I will continue with my studies," Muriuki said.

Witnesses said the explosion occurred at about 4.30 am, setting off terrified screams from the women's wing of a dormitory. The panic spread to the men's wing, where students woke up and scrambled to get out.

Students said the incident evoked memories of the April 2 attack on Garissa University College, about 120 miles from the Somali border. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-aligned armed group al Shabab claimed responsibility for that raid, which also came before dawn.

The tragedy at the University of Nairobi on Saturday befell Kenya while it was still grieving over the students killed in Garissa, with funerals taking place around the country.

Al Shabab has killed more than 400 people on Kenyan soil in the last two years, including 67 during a siege at Nairobi's Westgate mall in 2013.

Kenya responded to the latest attack with airstrikes on Al Shabab targets in Somalia and closure of informal financial firms suspected of involvement in the funding of the group.

It has also said the U.N. refugee agency should relocate hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees sheltering in the Dadaab camp in the remote northeastern region. Displaced Somalis who fled south to Kenya have been in these camps for more than two decades since civil war caused the breakdown of the country's government. 

Reuters