By Kimeng Hilton Ndukong With Press Reports,
Gunfire erupted yesterday, September 22, 2013 at an up market
shopping mall in Kenya's capital Nairobi, where at least 59 people were
killed and over 175 wounded when a Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabab,
stormed the building on Saturday, Reuters news agency reported. Israeli
Special Forces joined Kenyan troops in rescuing the hostages, the AFP
news agency said.
Shooting erupted yesterday at the shopping centre after a tense
standoff between security forces and the militants, a witness said,
speaking from close to the shopping centre that is frequented by
Westerners and wealthy Kenyans. Shortly after shots were fired, troops
in camouflage, ran crouching below a restaurant terrace along the front
of the building that was buzzing with customers when assailants charged
in. Foreigners, including a Canadian diplomat and a renowned Ghanaian
poet, were killed in the attack that began on Saturday, September 21,
2013 at the Westgate Mall.
The attack began at about 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Saturday
when the attackers entered the centre, throwing grenades and firing
automatic weapons. A children's day event was being held at the time -
children are among those reported killed. Some witnesses said the
militants told Moslems to leave and said non-Moslems will be targeted.
The authorities appealed to Kenyans to donate blood for the injured and
big queues began forming at a donation centre in central Nairobi.
The Cabinet Secretary for the Interior, Joseph Ole Lenku, yesterday
told the BBC that 1,000 people managed to escape from the Westgate Mall
after the assault by the militants. He added that between 10 to 15
attackers were still in the building, though it was not clear how many
civilians remained trapped inside either as hostages or hiding from the
militants. There was heavy military presence both in and around the
shopping centre, and sporadic gunfire could be heard from inside.
Saturday's rampage is one of the worst incidents in Kenya since the
attack on the US embassy in August 1998. Kenya has about 4,000 troops in
southern Somalia fighting against Al-Shabab militants as part of an
African Union force, AMISOM. They intervened in 2011 following attacks
and kidnappings in northern Kenya near the Somali border by Al-Shabab.
Al-Shabab believes the AU troops are invaders trying to stop their
legitimate vision of creating an Islamic State in Somalia.
