Police says gunman involved in Kenya's Garissa College attack was son of Kenyan govt official

The son of a Kenyan government official has been identified as one of the masked gunmen who attacked Garissa University College on Thursday, killing 148 people, authorities said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said that Abdirahim Mohammed Abdullahi, one of the attackers, was the son of a government chief in Mandera County, reported Fox News.

The official had reported his son missing last year and said he feared that he had gone to Somalia said Njoka.

Abdullahi graduated with a law degree from the University of Nairobi in 2013 and was seen as a "brilliant upcoming lawyer."

All four attackers were killed by Kenyan security forces on Thursday, Kenyan police said.

The attack was claimed by Somalia's Al Shabaab Islamic militants who said that it was in retaliation for Kenya sending troops to Somalia to fight the extremists.

Five people have been taken into custody so far in connection with the attack, a Kenyan official said.