Massacre mall ablaze

Massacre mall ablaze after Islamic terrorists 'blew themselves up': Fierce gunfire heard inside Kenyan shopping centre where militants were holding dozens of hostages

• Westgate shopping centre on fire and fears the terrorists have carried out suicide bomb attack
• Architect Ross Langdon, who had dual Australian and British nationality, murdered with heavily pregnant girlfriend
• Foreign Office confirmed on Monday that four Britons have been killed in the atrocity
• Al Shabaab militants today said they would kill the remaining hostages inside the Westgate Shopping Centre
• David Cameron today announced his early return from Balmoral to chair meeting of Cobra 
• Kenyan official reveals he suspects the involvement of fugitive 7/7 'white widow' Samantha Lewthwaite
• Men, women and children slaughtered if they could not recite Koran or name Prophet Mohammed's mother
• Terrorists told French citizen 'they want to kill Kenyans and Americans'
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By BECKY EVANS and PAUL BENTLEY

23 September 2013

The Kenyan shopping mall where Islamic terrorists are holding shoppers hostage is on fire as and a fierce gun battle is underway as the special forces try to bring an end to the three day siege.

Witnesses say they have heard four large explosions at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi and it is feared gunman inside may blown themselves up in a suicide bomb attack.

Security forces say they have freed some but not all of the hostages.

The Westgate Shopping Centre is on fire and a fierce gun battle is underway as Kenyan special forces try to end the three day siege that has killed at least 69 people

Witnesses have reported hearing rapid gun fire at the shopping mall and Kenyan soldiers have been seen moving towards Westgate

A paramedic runs for cover outside the mall in Nairobi after a large explosion was followed by sustained shooting

Police chief David Kimaiyo said in a message on Twitter on the third day of the standoff: 'Thumbs up to our multi-agency team, we have just managed to rescue some hostages. We're increasingly gaining advantage of the attackers.'

Thick clouds of dense black smoke billowed from the complex after a series of loud explosions and heavy gunfire.

More...

• Terror raid 'led by white widow': Gang mastermind in veil barked orders at gunmen in mall massacre that left three Britons dead
• 'If they found me, I'm white... so I'm dead': Survivors reveal how gunman executed non-Muslims - after asking them to name Prophet Mohammed's mother
• The Twitter terrorists: How killers boasted of Kenyan mall carnage with live commentary as they murdered dozens of people

The area around the mall was teeming with Kenyan soldiers and armoured personnel carriers, as emergency workers and reporters were told to take cover.   

Ambulances were also seen accelerating towards the scene as aircraft flew overhead.

A Kenyan special forces officer said troops had moved in to end the siege with force.

'I saw them only once, I could not see them much," he said. "It was hide-and-seek, hide-and-seek, hide-and-seek. In the end we had to use full force, we had to finish with these guys.'

This morning it emerged that a British man had lost his wife and daughter in the massacre while a prize winning architect, who had joint British and Australian nationality was also among the dead. 

The Foreign Office confirmed today that four Britons have now been killed in the atrocity.

Ross Langdon, 33,  was killed alongside his heavily pregnant Dutch partner Elif Yavuz. The malaria specialist was just two weeks away from giving birth.

Kenyan troops have moved in to end the siege but spokesman for terror group Al Shabaab Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement posted on an Islamist website that those held inside will 'bear the brunt of any force' used by soldiers against the militants.

The area around the mall was teeming with Kenyan soldiers and armoured personnel carriers, as emergency workers and reporters were told to take cover

Kenyan police said they have rescued some hostages after storming the mall and said they are 'increasingly gaining advantage [over] the attackers'

Ross Langdon, 33, was killed alongside his heavily pregnant Dutch partner Elif Yavuz

The statement read: 'We authorise the mujahedeen inside the building to take actions against the prisoners as much as they are pressed.

'We are telling Christians advancing onto the mujahedeen to have mercy for their prisoners who will bear the brunt of any force directed against the mujahedeen.'

The Al-Qaeda linked group claimed to be in contact with the fighters inside the mall and said the gunmen were battling both Kenyan and Israeli forces. 

As the stand-off entered its third day, sustained bursts of rapid gunfire erupted at dawn and lasted 15 minutes, and soldiers posted around the complex ducked for cover.

This was followed by three big explosions, AFP correspondents at the scene said.

The Shebab have not said how many people were being held by the dozen-or-so attackers, who marched into the Israeli-owned four-storey complex at midday Saturday, spraying shoppers with machine gunfire and tossing grenades.

One security officer said within half-an-hour of the attack the mall had been turned into 'an abattoir' as gunmen wearing Islamic scarves but Western clothes went on the rampage.

At least 69 people have been killed so far - including three Britons - and 175 people have been left injured.

Those caught up in the atrocity come from 13 different countries including the U.S., France, Ghana, New Zealand and Holland.

Today, tributes began to pour in to Mr Langdon, 33, who was the founding director of the architecture firm Regional Associates, and his partner on social media sites. 

Sydney architect Marcus Trimble wrote: 'Horrible news that Ross Langdon and his wife were killed in the Nairobi attacks.

Designer Liane Rossler said the couple were 'very special souls'.

Militants inside Westgate Shopping Centre have threatened to kill the remaining hostages as Kenyan security personnel try to end the siege (pictured)

Kenya Security personnel take cover outside the Westgate Mall. Islamist terror group Al Shabaab claimed it carried out the atrocity in which three Britons were killed and 175 people were left injured

Kenyan military said last night that 'most' of the hostages have been freed but a spokesman admitted today that the situation is still not clear

Militants inside the shopping centre said hostages would 'bear the brunt' of any action by the Kenyan military

Terror link: Samantha Lewthwaite, 29, originally from Buckinghamshire, was described as a 'brave lady' by Islamist terror group Al Shabaab

Australian media said Mr Langdon grew up in Tasmania and worked around the world, including in Uganda and Rwanda.

In 2010, Mr Langdon received the University of Sydney's Young Alumni Award in recognition of his pursuit of excellence in the field of architecture on projects located across Australia, Europe and Africa.

Mr Langdon had been involved with a number of projects across Africa, which included designing an HIV-Aids hospital in Kenya free of charge.

He could be seen photographed with Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, in a picture posted on his Facebook profile earlier this year.

Harvard graduate Ms Yavuz was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time of her death.

The malaria specialist was working in Kenya for the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation run by the billionaire Microsoft founder.

On her Facebook profile she was photographer shaking hands with former US President Bill Clinton during a visit to a Gates Foundation project last month.

Born in Holland, Ms Yavuz had lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while studying at the reknowned Harvard University.

The three other Britons killed in the atrocity have yet to be named.

One man, who did not want to be named, told the Daily Telegraph that his wife and children had been murdered and he has seen photographs of their bodies, which were taken by soldiers and paramedics inside the building.

It is believed that one of the leaders of the attack is the white English widow of a 7/7 bomber.

Al Shabaab said on Twitter last night that Samantha Lewthwaite, the 'white widow' of London bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was 'in their ranks' and a 'brave lady'.

Soldiers said a white woman wearing a veil was shouting orders to gunmen in Arabic during the bloody massacre inside the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.

The Foreign Office is investigating the claims about Lewthwaite, who is wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell planning bomb attacks.

'WE ONLY WANT TO KILL KENYANS AND AMERICANS': EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF FRENCH FAMILY

A French woman said she was freed by the Islamic terrorists because they told her they only wanted to kill Kenyans and Americans.

The woman, who only gave her name as Pauline, said she escaped with her two young children, who were given Mars bars by the gunmen.

Pauline said she was asked for forgiveness by the terrorists who told her 'we are not monsters'.

The mother of two, who was in the supermarket when the attack began, said once she agreed Muslims were not 'bad people' they gave her children, Emily, 6, and Eliot, 4, chocolate.

She told The Independent: 'He said we only only want to kill Kenyans and Americans. He then told me I had to change my religion to Islam and said "do you forgive us? do you forgive us?'

She said she was able to escape with another two children, including a wounded 12-year-old boy whose mother had been murdered.

Terrified children wait by the body of a man after escaping from the shopping centre. Militants have today threatened to kill the remaining hostages

Fleeing: A child runs to safety across the shopping mall following the deadly attack in Nairobi, Kenya. Three Britons have been killed in the attack

Terror: Armed police guide a woman carrying a child to safety at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi

Desperation: A crowd of people hold their arms out to catch a Kenyan woman as she jumps out from the air vent where she had been hiding from the gunmen

Moving quickly: An image grab taken from AFP TV shows civilians taking cover following an attack by masked gunmen in a shopping mall in Nairobi

Today, David Cameron said he is returning to Downing Street to oversee the response to the terror attack.

The Prime Minister, who has warned the country to be braced for 'more bad news', is cutting short a Balmoral visit to chair a Cobra emergency committee meeting this afternoon.

The Foreign Office confirmed four Britons had died after Defence Secretary Philip Hammond chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee in Whitehall.

Gunfire has reportedly been heard from inside the Westgate Mall this morning, where Kenyan Defence Forces are still involved in the hostage rescue operation.

Earlier the authorities said 'most of the hostages' had already been rescued and the majority of the building had been secured in a major military operation.

However, it emerged this morning that hostages may not have been released.

A person with knowledge of the rescue operation told AP that no hostages had been released or rescued overnight. The person insisted on anonymity in order to talk about the rescue response.

69 DEAD AND 175  INJURED FROM 13 NATIONS: DETAILS OF KENYA TERRORIST ATTACK VICTIMS BEGIN TO EMERGE

Canadian diplomat Annemarie Desloges was among the 68 people known to have died in the attack. Her husband Robert Munk was injured

KENYA 
President Uhuru Kenyatta's nephew and nephew's fiancee were killed 

GHANA 
Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet, professor and former ambassador to Brazil, Cuba and the United Nations, died after being wounded in the attack, Ghana's presidential office confirmed.

Ghana's ministry of information said Awoonor's son was injured and is responding to treatment. 

CANADA 
Two Canadians, including a diplomat, died in the attack, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

He paid tribute to the victims and noted the loss of diplomat Annemarie Desloges, who served in Canada's High Commission to Kenya as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency.

Her spouse Robert Munk was wounded in the attack, but has since been released from the hospital, the Canadian Press reported. 

INDIA 
Two Indians, 8-year-old Parmashu Jain and 40-year-old Sridhar Natarajan, were killed, and four others were wounded in the attack.

BRITAIN 
The Foreign Office have confirmed that four UK nationals have been killed in the attack.

Prize-winning architect Ross Langdon, who had dual British and Australian citizenship, is believed to be one of the dead.

A British man, who refused to give his name, said his wife and daughter were both killed in the atrocity.

The Foreign Office warned the number of British dead is 'likely to rise as further information becomes available.'

FRANCE 
Two French women were killed, President Francois Hollande said. 

SOUTH AFRICA 
One South African citizen was killed, according to the country's International Relations Department. 

THE NETHERLANDS 
A 33-year-old Dutch woman died in the attack, believed to be Elif Yavuz, the heavily pregnant partner of British architect Mr Langdon.

Seven other Dutch citizens who were in the mall escaped unharmed, Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said. 

CHINA 

A 38-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Zhou who worked in the real estate industry was killed in the attack, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Her son was injured in the attack and was in stable condition in a hospital, according to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya. 

PERU 
A retired staff member of UNICEF from Peru was killed, the agency's regional office for Eastern and Southern Africa said. 

U.S. 
Five American citizens were injured, U.S. officials said. 

NEW ZEALAND 
Andrew McLaren, 34, a New Zealander

Tense: Kenyan paramilitary officers walk towards a small shopping arcade adjacent to the Westgate shopping mall where the fate of the hostages remained unclear on Monday morning

Tense: Soldiers from the Kenya Defense Forces walk out of the mall, following the sound of explosions and gunfire

Distressing: A woman holds a baby sitting with other injured people who are crying for help after gunmen went on a shooting spree in the Westgate shopping centre

Shock: A soldier directs people up stairs inside the Westgate shopping mall. Some fled and sought refuge in shops, bank vaults and store rooms as grenades exploded and bullets fired around them

The UK has offered Kenya assistance, including intelligence co-operation, in response to the attack by Islamic extremists in the upmarket shopping centre.

A military spokesman admitted this morning that the situation is still unclear.

'We are yet to get confirmation from what's happening in the building,' Col. Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan military spokesman.

The Kenyan military launched a large military assault on the mall shortly before sundown on Sunday, with one helicopter skimming very close to the roof of the shopping complex as a loud explosion rang out, far larger than any previous grenade blast or gunfire volley.

With horrific cruelty, militants have reportedly cut the hands off the bodies of their victims and burned their faces to try to conceal their identities.

The massacre began on Saturday shortly before midday local time. Witnesses told how terrorists, their faces hidden with Islamic scarves, stormed the shopping mall and started tossing grenades and spraying shoppers with AK-47s.

The gunmen ordered all Muslims to leave before carrying out rudimentary tests to see if hostages could recite the Koran and name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.

As soldiers began working their way through the shopping centre yesterday they discovered that piles of bodies had been pushed against doors to slow their progress.

Reports on where the terrorists are holed up differ, with some reports suggesting they have barricaded themselves and dozens of hostages in a toilet block on the ground floor.

Stories from survivors of the carnage from inside the building have begun to emerge.

Hunting down the terrorists: Soldiers from the Kenya Defence Forces arrive at the Westgate Shopping Centre in the capital Nairobi

Help: Relatives and friends of victims line up to donate blood in Nairobi, following the overwhelming numbers of casualties from the Westgate mall shooting

Witness describes close encounter with Nairobi mall gunmen

Siege: People look at the Westgate shopping mall in the distance where hostages are being held for the second day

Escape: This family, who had been trapped inside the shopping centre, support each other as they escape from the scene

A French woman, known only as Pauline, said the terrorists told her they only wanted to kill Kenyans and Americans.

Late on Sunday, Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said on Twitter that 'this will end tonight. Our forces will prevail.' 

As well as boasting Lewthwaite was with them, Al Shabaab claimed two British men from London, Liban Adam, 23, and Ahmed Nasir Shirdoon, 24, were among the ‘holy warriors’ in the attack.

The group is said to be highly organised, with huge amounts of ammunition as well as night vision equipment. They have destroyed CCTV cameras inside the shopping mall, meaning they cannot be watched.

Security forces, receiving advice from Western and Israeli experts said they had secured the bulk of the complex by Sunday, freeing many people who had hidden in terror.

In Somalia, Kenya's northern neighbour devastated by two decades of civil war, a spokesman for al Shabaab said President Uhuru Kenyatta must pull out Kenyan troops, who have pushed the militants on to the defensive over the past two years as part of an African Union-backed peacekeeping mission. Kenyatta refused.

The president, who lost a nephew in Saturday's killing, vowed to hold firm in the 'war on terror' in Somalia and said, cautiously, that Kenyan forces could end the siege.

'I assure Kenyans that we have as good a chance to successfully neutralise the terrorists as we can hope for,' he said. 'We will punish the masterminds swiftly and painfully.'