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Kenya: Westgate Mall seige by al-Shabaab terrorists over – President Uhuru Kenyatta
Lewthwaite is thought to have left Britain several years ago and is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack hotels and restaurants in Kenya.
U.S. security sources said they were looking into information from Kenya that residents of Western countries, including the United States, may have been among the militants.
U.S. President Barack Obama, whose father was born in the east African nation, offered help, saying he believed Kenya – the scene of one of al-Qaeda’s first major attacks, in 1998, and a neighbor of chaotic Somalia – would continue to be a regional pillar of stability.
Somalia’s prime minister appealed in Geneva on Tuesday for international support to combat the al-Shabaab but said a military solution to their insurgency alone was not enough.
Abdi Farah Shirdon said: “We still have a difficult journey ahead of us. A military solution alone is not enough, promotion of rule of law, greater regional cooperation and economic stability and provision of public services are all key factors that complement the military effort.”
The attack on the mall is the worst such incident in Kenya since al-Qaeda killed more than 200 people when it bombed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998.
When fighters from its Somali ideological counterpart stormed the mall on Saturday, they hit a high-profile symbol of Kenya’s economic power.
Kenya has sent troops to Somalia as part of an African Union force trying to stabilize the country, which was long without a functioning government, and push back the al-Shabaab.
