AKIPRESS.COM - The number of people killed by al-Shabab militants in an attack on a university in north-eastern Kenya has risen to 147, government officials say, reports BBC.

The operation to secure the Garissa University College campus was now over, with all four attackers killed, they added.

Some 587 students escaped, 79 of whom were injured.

The gunmen were wearing suicide vests, according to reports, and were armed with AK-47s.

Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said the militants exploded "like bombs" as the siege ended, according to the Associated Press. Some officers were wounded by shrapnel.

It is not clear if the attackers deliberately detonated the explosives as police approached, or if they went off automatically after being hit by gunfire.

An overnight curfew is being implemented in parts of the country.

Nine critically injured students were airlifted to the capital Nairobi for treatment, they added.

But each student had been accounted for by the end of the evacuation.

Masked gunmen stormed the university early on Thursday morning and took hostages.