WASHINGTON
U.S. President Barack Obama personally offered his condolences on Friday for the victims of a deadly attack on a Kenyan university that left dead scores of students.
"Words cannot adequately condemn the terrorist atrocities that took place at Garissa University College, where innocent men and women were brazenly and brutally massacred," Obama said in a statement.
"I know firsthand the extraordinary resilience and fundamental decency of the people of Kenya. So I know that the people of Garissa and all of Kenya will grieve, but their determination to achieve a better and more secure future will not be deterred. And neither will the resolve of the United States," he added.
Obama expressed his condolences to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta during a phone call Friday, according to the White House.
Large numbers of Kenya's Christian and Muslim communities on Friday mourned at Nairobi's Chiromo Mortuary the 151 victims who lost their lives when al-Shabaab militants entered the college campus in the east of the country Thursday.
Masked gunmen reportedly separated Muslims from Christians before indiscriminately gunning down Christians.
"The future of Kenya will not be defined by violence and terror; it will be shaped by young people like those at Garissa University College – by their talents, their hopes, and their achievements," Obama said.
The massacre came just days after Obama said he would visit his father's homeland in July to take part in a global entrepreneurship summit.
The attack was the worst Kenya has suffered to date at the hands of al-Shabaab.
The al-Qaeda-linked group has vowed to carry out attacks in Kenya as long as the East African country keeps troops in Somalia.
