African Union Mission to Somalia
A student survivor said that the gunmen spoke in Swahili, and asserted that they were associated with the Al-Shabaab group. The group later claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the group, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, said regarding the situation that "when our men arrived, they released the Muslims", but were holding Christians hostage. Rage also stated that his men's "mission is to kill those who are against the Shabab", and that "Kenya is at war with Somalia" in reference to the deployment of Kenyan troops in the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). Another spokesman asserted that Al-Shabaab attacked the institution because it was "on Muslim land colonized by non-Muslims".