NEW YORK
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday sharply condemned a deadly attack at a university in northeastern Kenya.
"[Ban] hopes the situation will be (sic) quickly brought under control without further harm to those being held, and he calls for those responsible for today's attack to be swiftly brought to justice," according to a statement issued from UN spokesperson's office.
Officials said at least 70 students were killed and 79 injured at the Garissa University College as attackers stormed the campus. More than 500 students were rescued from the school located near the Somali border.
The Somalia-based al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The al-Qaeda-linked group has vowed to carry out attacks in Kenya as long as the East African country keeps troops in Somalia.
Internal Security Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaiserry said four of the attackers had been killed, but an unknown number of gunmen were still in the building.
A curfew has been issued in parts of the country.
In late 2013, al-Shabaab gunmen stormed Nairobi's Westgate Mall, holding hundreds of victims hostage.
The four-day siege left 67 dead, including all of the assailants.
