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Kenya: At least 20 killed in suspected terrorist attack in Nairobi mall
One eyewitness who identified himself as Taha said he heard the screech of brakes followed moments later by an explosion and then sustained gun fire from the ground floor.
Some shoppers ran up stairs and escalators and hid around the mall’s cinema complex. Police found another terrified group hiding in a toilet on the first floor.
The Kenyan Red Cross said at least 15 had been killed and more casualties were still inside the complex.
“The casualties are many, and that’s only what we have on the outside,” Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Guled said. “Inside there are even more casualties and shooting is still going on.”
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants have previously threatened to launch strikes on Nairobi’s tower blocks and soft targets including nightclubs and hotels in the capital. But they have so far failed to carry out such an attack.
Asked if the attack was a robbery, one paramilitary officer said: “No, terrorist”. There has, though, been no official statement from the police regarding the attackers’ motive. Police cordoned off the roads surrounding the mall in central Nairobi’s Westlands neighborhood.
