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Kenya Attack


Don Crack

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A senior figure in the Somali militant group al-Shabab has told the BBC it carried out a deadly attack on a shopping centre in neighbouring Kenya.

 

Gunmen are still holding hostages inside Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall and security forces are still battling to secure it, officials say.

 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said 39 people had been killed, including some of his family, and 150 were injured.

Al-Shabab said the attack was in response to Kenyan troops in Somalia.

 

There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in the south of Somalia, where they have been fighting the militants since 2011.

 

On its Twitter feed, al-Shabab - which has links to al-Qaeda - said it was behind what it called the "Westgate spectacle".

 

In his TV address, Mr Kenyatta said security forces were "in the process of neutralising the attackers and securing the mall".

 

He went on: "We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get to them and we shall punish them for this heinous crime."

 

He said he had "personally lost family members in the Westgate attack".

 

As night fell in Nairobi, two contingents of army special forces troops are reported to have moved inside the mall.

 

A police officer inside the shopping centre told Reuters that the remaining gunmen were barricaded inside a Nakumatt supermarket, one of Kenya's biggest chains.

 

The Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre said that an unknown number of shoppers and staff were being held by the gunmen, as the massive police and army operation continued more than 12 hours after the attack began.

 

Officers have been going from shop to shop to secure the area.

 

The attackers entered the Westgate centre at about 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT), throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons. A children's day event was being held at the time.

 

The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner says a security source told him that at least one of the attackers was a woman who appeared to have some kind of leadership role.

 

Our correspondent says that it is unclear how many civilians are hostages and how many are in hiding.

 

Al-Shabab said on Twitter that the Kenyan government wanted to negotiate an end to the Westgate attack. But officials have told the BBC they intend to hunt the gunmen down.

 

One gunman was arrested and died of his wounds, Kenyan officials told the BBC. Four other gunmen were arrested.

 

Some witnesses said the gunmen had told Muslims to leave and said non-Muslims would be targeted.

 

"They came and said: 'If you are Muslim, stand up. We've come to rescue you," said Elijah Lamau.

 

He said the Muslims left with their hands up, and then the gunmen shot two people.

 

The correspondent in Nairobi for the Economist, Daniel Howden told the BBC he spoke to one man with a Christian first name but

a Muslim-sounding surname who managed to escape the attackers by putting his thumb over his first name on his ID.

 

However, the man told Mr Howden that an Indian man standing next to him who was asked for the name of the Prophet Muhammad's mother was shot dead when he was unable to answer.

 

The evil that men do

 

Rip to the dead

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428875/Terror-Kenya-Unknown-number-hostages-trapped-Nairobi-mall.html

 

 

 

Terror in Kenya: 'Unknown' number of hostages still trapped in mall 24 hours after masked Islamist gunmen slaughtered 59 in terrifying siege they live-blogged on TwitterForeign Secretary William Hague confirms British citizens are caught up in the terrorist attack in Nairobi
Kenyan security forces are locked in a stand-off with the terrorists 24 hours after the gang began shooting
Terrorists tweet: 'Kenyans will not appreciate the situation without seeing death in all its ghoulish detail'
Ten to 15 people still trapped inside mall, according to the Kenyan interior minister
The US State Department has also confirmed Americans were at the shopping centre
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to 'hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to'
Somalian terrorist group al-Shabaab, which has links to Al-Qaeda, has now claimed responsibility for the attack
The terrorist organisation released a statement saying it warned Kenya to remove troops from Somalia
Hostages are being held by at least five attackers still in building
Upmarket mall is a favourite shopping spot for expats and wealthy Kenyans
Security guards wheel out bodies in shopping trolleys from Westlands Shopping Centre
Witness says attackers told shoppers non-Muslims were the targets of the masked terrorists
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article-2427892-1822EB0F00000578-706_964
 
article-2427892-1824747400000578-362_964
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Watch how muslims were also killed in this tragedy

Recite the shahada or else it's off with your head kind of thing.

 

I hope this woman and the kids amongst all those not held up made it out safely..

 

article-2427892-1824B23800000578-239_964

This is the first time seeing this pic...its really disturbed me to the core.

 i really hope this mother and her babies have got out safely.

 

the pic sums it all up. pointless evil

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