President Barack Obama called Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday to express condolences over the "heinous terrorist attack" on a Kenyan university and confirmed he still planned to visit the country later this year, the White House said.

"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.

"We will stand hand-in-hand with the Kenyan Government and people against the scourge of terrorism and in their efforts to bring communities together."