KENYA: Kenyan security forces search for the al Qaeda-linked attackers who the al Shabaab Islamist group said are still holed up in a Kenyan shopping mall they attacked at the weekend

Record ID: 353962

  • Title: KENYA: Kenyan security forces search for the al Qaeda-linked attackers who the al Shabaab Islamist group said are still holed up in a Kenyan shopping mall they attacked at the weekend
  • Date: 25th September 2013
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (SEPTEMBER 24, 2013) (REUTERS) SMOKE BILLOWING FROM MALL VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS WALKING INSIDE MALL MORE OF SOLDIERS TAKING POSITIONS IN MALL BLASTED WINDOW MORE OF SOLDIERS INSIDE MALL SOLDIERS LOOKING DOWN FROM ROOF FIRE TRUCK REVERSING FIREMEN CARRYING WATER HOSE KDF APC DRIVING IN FRONT OF MALL KDF SOLDIERS ON THE ROAD OUTSIDE MALL MALL HELICOPTER
  • Embargoed: 10th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVABXAS4J3EUNBMU5UFFSJMB4BGZ
  • Story Text: Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group said on Tuesday (September 24) its militants were still holed up in a Kenyan shopping mall they attacked at the weekend and there were "countless dead bodies", raising fears the death toll could be higher than 62.
    Kenyan security forces were searching for the al Qaeda-linked attackers who are believed by Western sources to include Americans and possibly a British woman who may be the widow of a suicide bomber who took part in a big attack in London in 2005. Al Shabaab rejected suggestions that foreigners were involved.
    Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Tuesday that five attackers have been killed and 11 held in custody, adding forensic experts were working to identify nationalities of the attackers. He could not confirm intelligence reports that suggested Americans and a British woman have been involved in the attack.
    Sporadic bursts of gunfire and an explosion marked the fourth day since the militants stormed into Nairobi's upmarket Westgate centre during a busy Saturday lunchtime, spraying bullets and lobbing grenades.
    A paramedic inside the mall, told Reuters that bodies were still lying around as troops went from room to room, at times using blasting caps to open locked doors and occasionally firing as a precaution before moving in.
    Helicopters buzzed over the complex, which is popular with prosperous foreigners and Kenyans. Al Shabaab says it launched the attack in pursuit of demands that Kenya withdraw troops from Somalia, where they have battled the Islamist group. President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to stay the course there.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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