Kenya admits intelligence ignored ahead of Garissa massacre

Kenya's interior minister on Thursday admitted that intelligence was ignored and the security response botched regarding the Islamist massacre of nearly 150 people at Garissa university.

"There was lack of coordination on the side of the officers, there was intelligence that this place was going to be attacked," Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery told a parliamentary committee.

Nkaissery said security should have been "beefed up" but was not, and that once the attack began a "lack of coordination" undermined the response.

Militants from Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels killed 148 people during the assault on Garissa university in northeast Kenya on April 2. It was the group's deadliest attack to date.

The intelligence and security failings are reminiscent of Kenya's botched response to the 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall, when prior intelligence was ignored and during which a lack of coordination led to the Kenyan army and police firing on each other.

Appearing before a parliamentary security committee, Nkaissery -- who was appointed interior minister in December after his predecessor was sacked following a series of deadly Shebab attacks -- defended his ministry and instead blamed regional and county security officials for the failings.

Earlier this month two civil servants and seven police officers were suspended pending investigation into suspected negligence.

Nkaissery also said that because the busy university hostels were "congested" and had grilles on the windows it was difficult for students to escape and for soldiers and a specially trained police unit to get inside the buildings, meaning more lives were lost.