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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.
“The death toll is now standing at 30. This includes those who have died at the scene and at the hospital,” a senior police official told reporters. The Kenyan Red Cross confirmed the figure and said another 60 had been wounded in the attack.
The Kenyan government, which has troops battling Islamist al-Shabaab insurgents in neighboring Somalia, said it was too early to say who was responsible. “Investigations have begun to find out the perpetrators of this crime. I urge Kenyans not to speculate,” Interior Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku said in a statement.
Police at the scene said a suspect wounded in the firefight had been detained and taken to hospital under armed guard. “We have reports there were up to 10 or so attackers and they appeared to be wearing a similar outfit, and others covered their faces,” a police official said. “The pattern of the attack and the way they were speaking to their targets clearly point to a well-planned attack by a terrorist group”.
Earlier a police source said it had been confirmed that the attackers were holding at least seven hostages. As darkness fell over Nairobi, their fate was unclear. Kenyan anti-terror police could be seen moving around and inside the shopping center while special forces had joined the operation.
The Kenyan Red Cross appealed for blood donations and police instructed residents of the Nairobi Westlands neighborhood to stay away.
The four-story mall, has long been considered a potential terror target. It opened in 2007 and has restaurants, cafes, banks, a large supermarkets and cinema halls. Kenyan security agencies have regularly included the Westgate shopping mall on lists of sites they feared could be targeted by Al Qaeda-linked groups.
Source: Daily Nation and Newswires