KENYA: Kenya says death toll from mall attack remains at 67 and calls U.S. travel warning "uncalled for, unnecessary and unfriendly"

Record ID: 354018

  • Title: KENYA: Kenya says death toll from mall attack remains at 67 and calls U.S. travel warning "uncalled for, unnecessary and unfriendly"
  • Date: 29th September 2013
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (SEPTEMBER 29, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OFFICIALS/ WIDE OF BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOSEPH OLE LENKU, KENYA'S INTERIOR MINISTER, SAYING: "Death toll remains at 67 comprising 57 Kenyans as well as nationals of the following countries: two French, one Chinese, one Ghanian, one Canadian, one Australian, one South African,
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAGER4ST39RG9Q4K9WHYYLHO4N
  • Story Text: Kenya on Sunday (September 29) said the death toll from last week's shopping mall attack claimed by al Shabaab remained at 67 and listed their nationalities.
    "Death toll remains at 67 comprising 57 Kenyans as well as nationals of the following countries: two French, one Chinese, one Ghanian, one Canadian, one Australian, one South African, one Peru national and one from the Netherlands," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said during a briefing.
    Ole Lenku said nine suspects were in custody over the raid, one of them arrested on Sunday.
    "More suspects continue to be arrested including one arrested today. As we reported on Friday, so far, there are no formal reports to the police regarding any missing persons in relation to the attack at the Westgate mall," he said.
    Kenya also asked the U.S. government to lift an advisory warning U.S. citizens over travel to the east African country after the Sept. 21 Nairobi mall attack, calling it "unnecessary" and "unfriendly."
    Ole Lenku expressed strong objections to an updated travel advisory issued by the U.S. government to its citizens urging them to "evaluate their personal security situation in light of continuing and recently heightened threats from terrorism" in the east African country.
    "We are concerned by the advisory which is uncalled for, unnecessary, and unfriendly. The advisory was issued despite the fact that we had asked the United States government as a friendly country not to issue such an advisory. We believe issuing travel advisory is counterproductive in the fight against global terrorism. The travel advisory at this stage is not helping our collective effort against global terrorism. We cannot and shall not allow terrorists to instil fear in our people and so we request the United States as a friendly country to Kenya to lift the travel advisory," he said.
    Kenyan police assisted by U.S., Israeli and European experts are still poring over the partially wrecked building, Five attackers were also killed.
    The minister declined to give any information about the suspected attackers or those arrested and refused to comment on newspaper reports that the government had advanced warning of the attack.
    "We have indicated here and we stand by that our intelligence information remain intelligence information. And is nothing to be shared for public. And therefore for that , we treat our intelligence as confidential and is not something we are willing to discuss in public," Ole Lenku said.
    Ole Lenku said the government believed that no hostages were left in the building after the attack.
    "We think unless the forensic investigation show otherwise that we really do not think there are any hostages. We are however open and will share with you the findings of the forensic investigation. But we do not think that the information being churned out of alarming numbers of people being held hostage at that time could be true. So it is the government's position that there were no hostages and we managed to rescue all people in the building," he said.
    Ole Lenku also dismissed local media reports that the attackers had escaped through a tunnel at the mall.
    "With regard to whether the terrorists escaped through the tunnel, I want to assure the country that when our security forces moved to the site, they completely secured and sealed off any points of exit from the building. We also saw the clip that was showing the tunnel but I want to confirm that it was completely secured and there was no way any terrorist could have escaped through that tunnel," he said.
    The raid, claimed by Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab, ended after a four-day siege.
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