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About 2,500 people have marched in Kenya's Garissa town in a show of defiance against militant Islamist group al-Shabab following its deadly assault on a local university.

Muslims and Christians took part in the march, vowing to remain united against the al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants, says a BBC reporter in Garissa.

Students also protested in the capital, demanding greater security on campuses.

The assault on Garissa University on Thursday killed 148 people.

It was the deadliest attack in Kenya by al-Shabab, which was formed in neighbouring Somalia about eight years ago.

The militants have promised a "long, gruesome war" against Kenya after Kenya sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight them.

The BBC's Bashkash Jugsooda'ay reports from Garissa, about 150km (90 miles) from the border with Somalia, that protesters promised to co-operate with the security forces to flush out militants who may be hiding in their community.

However, they were also critical of the security forces, saying they were slow in their response to the assault.

'Mercy'

They pointed out that both the army and police had bases in Garissa, the main town in the north-east.

There is a hashtag trending on Twitter - #147notjustanumber in memory of the people killed in the Garissa attacks last week.

Kenyans are angry. They feel the government has not done enough to ensure security, especially as there had been material circulating on social media warning about attacks.

Unfortunately it looks like this is leading to profiling of Kenyans of Somali ethnicity - and there are many of them.

Yet, four gunmen managed to storm the campus, taking students hostage in dormitories and killing them in an attack that lasted from dawn to dusk.

The government says the security forces responded swiftly, and saved the lives of about 500 other students.

The security forces also came under heavy criticism at the protest in Nairobi, attended by several hundred university students.

Protesters said they were no longer prepared to be "at the mercy of al-Shabab" and demanded that the government tighten security at universities and schools across Kenya.

Demonstrators also mourned the dead, holding placards which read "You remain in our hearts!" and "RIP comrades".

A candle-lit vigil is due to be held later in the capital to end three days of national mourning.

The identification of the dead is still continuing at a mortuary in Nairobi.

This is being done through finger-printing, after relatives found it too harrowing to see photos of their loved ones.

On Monday, Kenya's military said it had launched air strikes against al-Shabab in Somalia's remote Gedo region, but eyewitnesses said none of the militants were hit.

Instead, the air raid wounded a mother and her two children, killed livestock and destroyed wells of nomadic communities, the eyewitnesses told the BBC Somali service.

Credit: The BBC