Dodging gunfire, Kenyan student makes barefoot escape from Al-Shabaab militants

Augustine Alanga is battered and bloody but alive, after escaping from heavily armed militants who stormed his university in Garissa, Kenya this morning. The attack killed at least 147 people. 

The 21-year-old woke up to the sound of gunfire near his university residence. He tells As It Happens host Carol Off, "I looked at them once. I saw them wearing masks and with sophisticated weapons."

Alanga made a run for it "half naked" and barefoot. He says he climbed a barbed wire fence while being shot at by the gunmen. 

"I ran as fast as I could."

Alanga says the gunmen targeted Christian students who had gathered for an early morning prayer group. During the attack, Christians were separated from Muslim students and shot. 

Alanga says, despite warnings that an attack on a university was imminent, there were only four police officers guarding the university.

"The security has been insufficient. That place is insecure," he says.

As Alanga waits to find out if friends have survived the attack, he has already made up his mind not to return to classes. 

"I will not go back there again."