Kenya: At least 62 Killed and Hundreds Injured in a Deadly Mall Siege
By Newsfromafrica
Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabab militant stormed on Saturday 22, 2013 an up market shopping mall in Kenya's capital Nairobi, where at least 62 people including children were killed and over 175 wounded.
Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet earlier said that the number of casualties has also raised to over 200.
Kenyan troops backed by Israeli Special forces battled Sunday to end a siege in the shopping mall and free hostages held by militants.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard as Kenyan security officials said they were attempting to kill or capture the remaining attackers and end the 48-hour-long bloodbath at the Westgate mall.
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 and former UN envoy Kofi Awoonor, 78, were killed in the attack .
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.
Interior Secretary Joseph ole Lenku said a delicate operation was still underway to free remaining hostages and neutralise the attackers who remained holed up in the shopping mall more than 20 hours after the attack occurred.
He criticised one of the local dailies that published a photo of one of the victims, saying it had brought anguish to the families of the victim.
Lenku said there were still between 10 to 15 gunmen in the shopping centre. "We believe there are some innocent people in the building, that is why the operation is delicate."
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had said in a televised address to the nation late Saturday that he had lost family members in the attack.
"Let me make it clear. We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them. We shall punish them for this heinous crime," he vowed.
The Westgate mall is popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates, and was packed with around 1,000 shoppers when the gunmen marched in at midday Saturday, tossed grenades and sprayed automatic gunfire at terrified people.
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.