KENYA: Still no final number of mall attack dead as parts of site too dangerous for Red Cross to enter

Record ID: 354009

  • Title: KENYA: Still no final number of mall attack dead as parts of site too dangerous for Red Cross to enter
  • Date: 27th September 2013
  • Summary: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: **THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:2 ** AUDIO AS INCOMING **PART VIDEO QUALITY AS INCOMING NAIROBI, KENYA (SEPTEMBER 27, 2013) (REUTERS) (AUDIO AS INCOMING) ( * BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) ABBAS GULLET , SECRETARY GENERAL OF KENYA RED CROSS SITTING AT NEWS CONFERENCE SIGN OF THE KENYA RED CROSS JOURNALISTS SITTING AT NEWS CONFERENC
  • Embargoed: 12th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVAE6DZF2R9WORSYTCX04E0HXQME
  • Story Text: Kenya Red Cross says the shopping mall attacked by al Shabaab militants at the weekend remains off limits as forensic investigation is ongoing.
    The Kenya Red Cross said on Friday (September 27) the Nairobi mall attacked by al Shabaab militants at the weekend was too dangerous for their staff to enter and that forensic work was continuing.
    Many people are still missing after the Islamist militants stormed in the upmarket shopping centre shooting and throwing grenades before laying siege to the mall for 4 days.
    Secretary General of Kenya Red Cross, Abbas Gullet, said the shopping centre was off limits to their workers as forensic officers were searching for clues and security forces were securing the building still believed to have explosives and the roof of which collapsed.
    "The operation at Westgate is not complete. The government, security forces, forensics, pathologists are still busy working in this area. We know there had been explosives and explosions yesterday and probably today and you know the area is not safe for people to go in. We also know that there are dead bodies still out there, and part of that mall or building is still smouldering. So we have been told to stand by to be called as and when the forensic work is done , pathology work is done and completed and when it's safe and secure for even humanitarian workers and others to go in," said Abbas Gullet, secretary general of Kenya Red Cross.
    Al Shabaab said it launched the operation to demand Kenya withdraw its troops from Somalia, where Kenyan forces were sent in 2011 to strike at the group which it blamed for a series of attacks and kidnappings in Kenya's northern area and coastline.
    The group warned Westgate would be followed by further action by what it called its "warriors".
    The minister said there were no formal reports of people still missing since the attack.
    The Kenyan Red Cross has previously said dozens were still missing but on Friday, they said the number remains unknown.
    Gullet confirmed it would take some time before the missing could be found and identified.
    "So on the issue of missing persons, what I have seen consistently is we can never for now, while the situation in Westgate is still unresolved, no one will authoritatively give you figures, especially of missing persons," said Gullet.
    Kenyan authorities are holding eight people in connection with the attack, while three others were released after questioning, the interior minister said on Friday.
    The al Shabbab assault killed at least 67 civilians and members of the security forces. The government said five of the militants were also killed.
    The interior minister said investigators trying to determine the identity of the attackers were searching through the rubble of the mall where three floors collapsed after a series of blasts and a huge blaze. He said they were making "good progress".
    The Somali group, which taunted Kenya during the mall raid when its militants were still holding out, has issued a new threat.
    "The mesmeric performance by the #Westgate Warriors was undoubtedly gripping, but despair not folks, that was just the premi�e of Act 1," the group said on Twitter, @HSM_PR, a handle it often changes as its accounts are regularly suspended.
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