KENYA: As Kenyan security forces intensify their operation to flush out al Shabaab militants from an upscale shopping mall, embassy officials join distraught relatives in Nairobi's mortuary to identify those who died in the attack

Record ID: 353963

  • Title: KENYA: As Kenyan security forces intensify their operation to flush out al Shabaab militants from an upscale shopping mall, embassy officials join distraught relatives in Nairobi's mortuary to identify those who died in the attack
  • Date: 23rd September 2013
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (SEPTEMBER 23, 2013) (REUTERS) THICK SMOKE BILLOWING OUT OF WESTGATE SHOPPING MALL CLOSE-UP OF SMOKE SECURITY FORCES TAKING COVER AMID SOUND OF GUNFIRE SECURITY FORCES STANDING NEXT TO VEHICLE WITH SOUND OF GUNFIRE IN BACKGROUND APC DRIVING AWAY MILITARY TRUCK BLOCKING THE ROAD BYSTANDERS WATCHING VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO NAIROBI CITY MORTUARY CAR WITH DIPLOM
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA5I43YKGZUWNR27Q9FXNDBLG9G
  • Story Text: Thick smoke poured from the besieged Nairobi mall where Kenyan officials said their forces were closing in on Islamists holding hostages on Monday (September 23), the third day since Somalia's al Shabaab launched a raid that has killed at least 62 people.
    It remained unclear how many gunmen and hostages were still cornered in the Westgate shopping centre, after a series of loud explosions and gunfire were followed by black smoke billowing from one part of the complex.
    By late afternoon, gunshots were heard outside the mall, sending some security forces for cover and an APC driving away from the shopping mall.
    Kenya's interior minister told a news conference militants had set fire to mattresses in a supermarket on the mall's lower floors. The ministry later said the blaze was under control.
    Also on Monday, officials from various embassies arrived at the city mortuary to identify their citizens who have been killed in a raid of an upscale shopping centre by Somalia's al Shabaab militants.
    At least 62 people have been killed on Saturday (September 21) when squads of attackers raided the Westgate shopping complex, packed with the weekend crowd, throwing grenades and spraying automatic fire.
    The shopping mall was a place frequented by Westerners as well as Kenyans.
    Joseph Mungai came to the mortuary to collect the body of his niece.

    "When I heard that that the building had been attacked by al Shabaab I started calling her on her phone, her family and people she used to work with. We called her phone and it just kept ringing, not being answered by anyone. Yesterday the phone went off," said Mungai whose niece was working as a cashier in one of the shops inside the mall.
    Three Britons were among those killed. A French mother and daughter and two diplomats, from Canada and Ghana, were also killed. The Ghanaian, Kofi Awoonor, was also a renowned poet. Other victims came from China and the Netherlands. Five Americans were wounded.
    It remains unclear who the assailants are. Al Shabaab - the name means "The Lads" in Arabic - has thousands of Somali fighters but has also attracted foreigners to fight Western and African Union efforts to establish a stable government.
    President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed on Sunday a demand that he pull Kenyan forces out of neighbouring Somalia.
    Kenyatta, who lost one of his own nephews in Saturday's bloodbath, said he would not relent in a "war on terror" in Somalia, where Kenyan troops have pushed al Shabaab onto the defensive over the past two years as part of an African Union-backed peacekeeping mission across the northern border.
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