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Update: Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants claim responsibility for Kenya Mall attack – 30 confirmed dead
Nairobi’s Westgate Mall. PHOTO/Westgate Premier Mall Inc.
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants have claimed responsibility for an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, saying on Twitter it was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.
“The Mujahideen entered #Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting the #Kenyan Kuffar inside their own turf,” the group said on Twitter.
“What Kenyans are witnessing at #Westgate is retributive justice for crimes committed by their military,” the group said.
The gunmen were “pinned down” after hours of painstaking evacuations, with police going shop to shop to secure the Westgate shopping mall, a security source told reporters.
“The attackers have been isolated and are pinned down in an area on one of the floors. The rest of the mall seems to be secure,” a security source added.
Senior police sources said they believed a well-organized “terror gang” numbering around 10 was behind the assault on the shopping center, which was packed with around 1,000 shoppers when it was besieged at midday local time.
An eyewitness told reporters that he heard the gunmen speaking Arabic or Somali and saw the group executing shoppers, in what appeared to be the worst attack in Nairobi since an al-Qaeda bombing at the US embassy killed more than 200 in 1998.
