The death toll in Thursday’s attack by militant group, Al-Shabaab on Garissa University College, Kenya has risen to 147 and is likely to spike further.

Independent sources say the number could get higher in the coming days as many critically injured persons are still receiving treatment in many hospitals in Nairobi, the nation’s capital.

Meanwhile, many Kenyans are expressing dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the security crisis and have decried the large number of casualties.

The militants, who stormed the public university in the early hours of Thursday while many of the students were saying their prayers, tossed grenades and shot at fleeing students many of whom had to climb over the fence in an attempt to escape from the terrorists.

The attackers initially killed indiscriminately according to witnesses. However, they later freed some Muslims and started targeting Christian students during the attack which lasted 15 hours.

Fleeing students said a warning had been issued about the imminent attack but no one had taken the alarm seriously. More than 500 students managed to escape while 79 others were injured.

An elite team of anti-terrorism operatives had battled the terrorists for hours and had eventually restricted them to one dormitory.

Four of the terrorists were later surrounded by the operatives. In the end, they detonated their suicide vests killing more victims in the process. A fifth gunman had been reportedly arrested.

Kenyan authorities have put up a 20 million shillings ($215,000) reward for the arrest of Mohamed Mohamud, a former Garissa teacher who has been indicted in the attack. He has been linked by Kenyan media to two separate al Shabaab attacks in the neighboring Mandera region last year.

The government has also imposed a dusk to dawn (6.30am-6.30pm) curfew on Garissa, Mandera and two other crime-ridden regions near the porous 700-km border with Somalia.