A woman was killed and many were injured as students and staff in a Kenyan university fled from what they thought was a terror attack.

A drill was organised by Nairobi-based Strathmore University and security agencies to test the students’ response, but some students were not aware that the gunshots were part of a drill.

When the simulation began at noon at the university’s Madaraka campus, people made for the quickest exit they could find.

Some were left standing on window ledges and some were reported to have jumped from as high as the fourth floor.

The university said one staff member, Esther Kidemba, died of head injuries and 31 other staff members and students were in hospital.

A statement from the university said it has launched an “intensive assessment” of “key lessons learnt”.

It added: “This simulation was aimed at testing the preparedness of the university community and emergency team in the event of an attack.

“Unfortunately some students and staff panicked and got injured.”

The university has also said it will pay medical costs for those injured and that counselling would be given to those affected.

Kenya has already been the target of a number of attacks by al-Qaeda and the Somali-led al Shebaab, including a massacre of university students at Garissa earlier this year, which left 148 dead, and an attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre in 2013 that killed 67.