Booby-trap terror at the mall: Kenyan forces defuse bombs planted in shopping centre as terrorists boast there are 'countless' dead bodies still inside
- Explosives add perilous dimension to four-day hostage crisis in Nairobi
- Gunfire heard early today despite Kenyan assurances mall had been secured
- 'Up to three American teenagers and a British woman among terrorists'
- Three Kenyan soldiers have died from wounds sustained during the siege
'We are doing clean-up of explosives that had been set up by the terrorists,' Kenyan police said in a message on Twitter.
No details were released about the nature and size of the explosives, but it adds an extra dangerous element to the siege, which has now dragged on for over 72-hours.
Sporadic gunfire at the upmarket Westgate mall broke out again at dawn, hours after officials claimed Kenyan troops had wrested back 'control' of the sprawling complex from Somalia's Al Shebaab insurgents, who are said to include Americans and a British woman.
Gunfire and large explosions have been heard on and off throughout Tuesday morning. Part of the mall roof collapsed during the assault, according to a firefighter.
Scroll down for video
Assault: Kenyan soldiers take their position at the Westgate shopping centre, on the fourth day since militants stormed into the mall in Nairobi
Evasive action: Kenyan soldiers and policemen crouch down behind a wall as they prepare for the next stage of the assault on the mall
At least 62 shoppers and staff have been killed and close to 200 wounded in the siege, but concerns are high that the toll may yet rise, with Al Shabaab boasting about 'countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall'.Three Kenyan soldiers have also died from wounds sustained during the siege.
Al Shabaab said its militants were still holding out in the Westgate centre and hostages they were holding were still alive.
'There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the Mujahideen (fighters) are still holding their ground #Westgate,' it said on a Twitter feed purportedly registered to the Islamist group.
'The hostages who were being held by the Mujahideen inside #Westgate are still alive, looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive.'
It later claimed that all hostages were 'strapped with remote control bombs.'
On alert: A Kenyan soldier takes cover following explosions near the mall
Propaganda? A Twitter feed purportedly registered to the Al Shabaab terror group claimed all the hostages had been strapped with explosives
Regular updates: Tweets from an account purportedly representing the Al Shabaab terror group claimed on Tuesday that the gunmen were still holding their ground
An overnight silence outside the large, upmarket Westgate mall was broken at daybreak with a loud burst of gunfire from inside, suggesting the complex had not yet been fully secured. A lone military chopper circled above.
'Our forces are combing the mall floor by floor looking for anyone left behind. We believe all hostages have been released,' the Ministry of Interior said on Twitter early on Tuesday, adding his forces were 'in control 'of the building. Despite Kenyan government assurances of success, another explosion and more gunfire could be heard coming from the mall at around 6:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Associated Press reporters at the scene said.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office told MailOnline they had not received confirmation that the siege had ended.
Fighting has once again erupted at the shopping mall in nairobi. The men pictured are gunmen involved in the attack
Kenyan soldiers take cover after heavy gunfire near Westgate mall in Nairobi yesterday. Authorities are reportedly battling 'one or two' remaining gunmen
While the government announced Sunday that 'most' hostages had been released, a security expert with contacts inside the mall said at least 10 were still being held by a band of attackers described as 'a multinational collection from all over the world.'
Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said 'two or three Americans' and one British woman were among those who attacked the mall.
Britain's foreign office said it was aware of the foreign minister's remarks, but would not confirm if a British woman was involved.
She said in an interview with the PBS 'NewsHour' programme that the Americans were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin and lived 'in Minnesota and one other place' in the U.S.
Horror: A girl stands by the body of a man after escaping. At least 62 have died in the attack
She is believed to be the 'White Widow' Samantha Lewthwaite, a 29 year old mother of four who converted to Islam as a young woman and married a man who went on to be a 7/7 London suicide bomber.
She has become a key figure in the terror group behind this weekend’s attack.
British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said there had been six British deaths and the number could rise.
An artistic director from Leicester said four of his relatives were killed as they took part in a television programme called Masterchef Junior.
Samir Bhamra told The Times: 'They were young people... unfortunately they have all passed away. It's a very difficult time.'
Meanwhile, a British woman told how she crawled to safety with her seven-month-old baby in her arms after masked gunmen stormed a cafe.
Bethan Rayner, 35, who grabbed daughter Hani during a break in the gunfire, told The Sun: 'It was terrifying. We are still in shock.'
U.S. officials said they were looking into whether any Americans were involved. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that the department had 'no definitive evidence of the nationalities or the identities' of the attackers.
The security expert, who insisted on anonymity to talk freely about the situation, said many hostages had been freed or escaped in the previous 24-36 hours, including some who were in hiding.
However, there were at least 30 hostages when the assault by al-Shabab militants began Saturday, he said, and 'it's clear' that Kenyan security officials 'haven't cleared the building fully'.
Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group, al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said the hostage-takers were well-armed and ready to take on the Kenyan forces.
Flames and dark plumes of smoke rose Monday above the Westgate shopping complex for more than an hour after four large explosions rocked the surrounding neighborhood.
The smoke was pouring through a large skylight inside the mall's main department and grocery store, where mattresses and other flammable goods appeared to have been set on fire, a person with knowledge of the rescue operation told The Associated Press.
The explosions were followed by volleys of gunfire as police helicopters and a military jet circled overhead, giving the neighborhood the feel of a war zone.
By Monday evening, Kenyan security officials claimed the upper hand.
Samantha Lewthwaite, female British terror suspect nicknamed the 'White Widow', is suspected to have been involved in the attack
'Taken control of all the floors. We're not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them,' Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo said on Twitter.
Kenya's Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the evacuation of hostages had gone 'very, very well' and that Kenyan officials were 'very certain' that few if any hostages were left in the building.
But with the mall cordoned off and under heavy security it was not possible to independently verify the assertions. Similar claims of a quick resolution were made by Kenyan officials on Sunday and the siege continued.
Authorities have also not provided any details on how many hostages were freed or how many still remain captive.
Rescue: Armed police guide a woman carrying a child to safety
Three attackers were killed in the fighting Monday, Kenyan authorities said, and more than 10 suspects arrested. Eleven Kenyan soldiers were wounded in the running gun battles.
An al-Shabab spokesman, Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, said in an audio file posted on a militant website that the attackers had been ordered to 'take punitive action against the hostages' if force was used to try to rescue them.
The attackers have lots of ammunition, the militant group said in a Twitter feed, adding that Kenya's government would be responsible for any loss of hostages' lives.
A Western security official in Nairobi who insisted on not being named to share information about the rescue operation said the only reason the siege hadn't yet ended would be because hostages were still inside.
Westgate mall, a vast complex with multiple banks that have secure vaults and bulletproof glass partitions, as well as a casino, is difficult to take, the official said.
'They are not made for storming," he said of the labyrinth of shops, restaurants and offices. "They're made to be unstormable.'
At least 62 people were killed in the assault Saturday by some 12 to 15 al-Shabab militants wielding grenades and firing on civilians inside the mall, which includes shops for such retail giants as Nike, Adidas and Bose and is popular with foreigners and wealthy Kenyans.
The militants specifically targeted non-Muslims, and at least 18 foreigners were among the dead, including six Britons, as well as citizens from France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, India, Ghana, South Africa and China. Nearly 200 people were wounded, including five Americans.
Fighters from an array of nations participated in the assault, according to Kenya's Chief of Defense forces Gen. Julius Karangi. 'We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world,' he said.
An injured woman is helped out of the shopping centre where gunmen went on a shooting spree
Paramedics run beside parked ambulances outside the Westgate Mall in Nairobi yesterday. Radical Islamist group al-Shabab is behind the attacks
Al-Shabab, whose name means 'The Youth' in Arabic, said the mall attack was in retribution for Kenyan forces' 2011 push into neighboring Somalia. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 al-Qaida truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which killed more than 200 people.
An extremist Islamic terrorist force that grew out of the anarchy that crippled Somalia after warlords ousted a longtime dictator in 1991, al-Shabab is estimated to have several thousand fighters, including a few hundred foreigners, among them militants from the Middle East with experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Others are young, raw recruits from Somali communities in the United States and Europe.
For years Minnesota has been the center of a federal investigation into the recruiting of fighters for al-Shabab. Authorities say about two dozen young men have left Minnesota since 2007 to join the group. Minnesota's Somali community is the largest in the U.S.
A Kenyan Army helicopter flies through the plume of black smoke over the Westgate Mall. The scene has been compared to a war zone
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the attack showed that al-Shabab was a threat not just to Somalia but to the international community.
Mohamed, the Kenyan foreign minister, said her country needs to work with other governments to fight the increasing terrorist threat and much more with the U.S and the U.K., because both the victims and the perpetrators came from Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States.
'That just goes to underline the global nature of this war that we are fighting,' she said.
Reports that some of the attackers may have been Somalis who lived in the United States illustrate the global nature of the militant group, the Somali leader said in a speech at Ohio State University.
Devastation: A soldier holds a rocket-propelled grenade surveys the carnage
'Today, there are clear evidences that Shabaab is not a threat to Somalia and Somali people only,' he said. "They are a threat to the continent of Africa, and the world at large.'
As the crisis passed the 48-hour mark, a video emerged that was taken by someone inside the mall's main department store when the assault began. It showed frightened and unsure shoppers crouching as long, loud volleys of gunfire could be heard.
Kenyans in many parts of the country stood in long lines Monday to donate blood to aid the nearly 200 people injured in the attack. Fundraisers raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, though government officials warned of scam artists taking advantage of the tragedy.
FROM PERU TO INDIA, THE MALL VICTIMS CAME FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE
Died together: British architect Ross Langdon, 33, and his pregnant girlfriend Elif Yavuz who were killed in the Kenyan shopping mall massacre
BRITAIN
British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said six British deaths occurred and the number could rise.
They include architect Ross Langdon (pictured, right, with his Dutch-born pregnant girlfriend, Elif Yavuz, who was also killed) and Zahira Bawa and her eight-year-old daughter Jenah, from Leamington Spa in central England, a relative told Britain's Press Association news agency.
---
CANADA
Annemarie Desloges, a border services liaison officer in Canada's High Commission to Kenya, 'was one of our bright young lights, and hers was a career brimming with promise,' said Tim Edwards, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
She was a 29-year-old from a 'foreign service family' and had accompanied her parents on overseas postings before deciding to follow in their footsteps in 2006.
Vancouver businessman Naguib Damji also died in the attack, a daughter and niece confirmed to various media.
Two sisters from Toronto, 17-year-old Fardosa Abdi and 16-year-old Dheeman Abdi, were seriously injured.
Their aunt Hodan Hassan said from her home in Minnesota that Fardosa was in critical condition with severe leg injuries.
---
CHINA
A 38-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Zhou who worked in the real estate industry was killed, state media said. Her son was injured in the attack and was in stable condition in a hospital, according to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.
---
FRANCE
Two French victims of the Nairobi terrorists were named last night as Corinne Dechauffour, 54 and her daughter Anne who was 27.
The murder of the two women who were from Nice on the French Riviera caused outrage in the southern city and in the rest of France.
The victims were gunned down in the car park of the Westgate Mall just after they had parked their car.
Distraught: Father Louis Bawa (left) is seen with his nine-year-old daughter Jennah (right). She has been confirmed as one of the British victims in the Kenya terrorist attack, in which her mother also died
No comments:
Post a Comment