Over 40 feared dead in deadly terror attack

By George Kebaso, Over 40 feared dead in deadly terror attack, The PeopleSeptember 22, 2013

It was sheer terror as the country yesterday became the target of a horrendous attack which left a trail of deaths, fatalities and destruction in one of the largest shopping malls in the city. Over 40 people were feared dead in a deadly grenade and gun attack that also left scores seriously injured in the exclusive upmarket Westgate Shopping Mall in what was earlier communicated by police as a robbery incident.

And later in the day State House issued a statement confirming that one of the suspects had been nabbed. No further details were forthcoming but sources said the man was in critical condition. He bore gun shot wounds suggesting that he could have been hit during a shootout with security forces who were on a mission to rescue the hostages.

Two of the attackers were killed in the shoot-out. Police recovered a rifle which bore Kenyan serial numbers. It was later confirmed that similar attacks were staged in Mogadishu and that others had been planned in Uganda and Tanzania but were foiled.

At about 12pm an estimated group of 15 masked gunmen entered Westgate in three different groups and hurled hand grenades into the building. Witness accounts The scene was full of action reminiscent of action movie as described by eye witness accounts. Last evening as we went to press, Al Shabaab claimed responsibility through the Al Jazeera television channel.

The mall, a multiple shopping and leisure area frequented by foreigners and wealthy Kenyans, was under siege as the gunmen roamed within the building before a police special unit and Kenya Defence Forces went in to confront them.

The masked attackers, said to be under the command of a female, threw grenades into the building almost simultaneously from three different positions before they started shooting shoppers indiscriminately. Eyewitnesses said they saw people running with AK47 rifles, shouting and hurling hand grenades into the mall.

“I saw three of the attackers dressed in black and with covered faces and they were carrying heavy rifles,” said another witness. A security officer at one of the entrances to the basement and rooftop parking areas of the building was shot dead at close range as he tried to close the gate. “I took cover the moment I heard the first gunshot and I have just found out that they killed my colleague Morris,” said one of the guards who hid in a generator room near the parking area.

One witness to the shopping centre attack claimed the gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave and that non-Muslims would be targeted. “They told us the government ordered Muslims to be killed and they have come for a revenge mission. They killed four people I was with after identifying them to be non-muslims. It’s by the grace of God that I am alive.

I think it’s some kind of miracle,” said Jackson Kyalo, a driver working for one of the companies that deliver goods to the mall. Another witness said the attackers identified themselves as Al-Shabaab. “They displayed a message written in Muslim and ordered their victims to recite it. If you failed, they shot you at point-blank range,” said an Asian man who was lucky to escape death.

Others said they saw about five armed assailants storm the mall, while more witnesses recounted seeing a group of armed people jump out of a Toyota Probox car, and that the incident appeared to be an attack rather than an armed robbery. “They didn’t seem like thugs. This is not a robbery incident,” said Yukeh Mannasseh who was on the mall’s top floor when the shooting started.

“It seems like an attack,” he concluded. Top government officials arrived at the scene almost one hour after the initial attacks. Inspector General of Police, David Kimaiyo was the first to arrive armed with an AK47 rifle, a helmet and a bullet proof vest.

Then shortly afterwards, Interior Secretary, Joseph Ole Lenku arrived. “It is a possibility that it is an attack by terrorists, so we are treating the matter very seriously,” police officers on the ground were heard discussing in low tones. A fierce exchange of gunfire ensued after police from the general Service Unit, Recce Company, arrived nearly half-an-hour after the attack started.

“I heard the exchange of fire when it happened, and I heard a loud bhang and thought could be a grenade, but I didn’t leave my house until I was sure there was enough presence of police,” Shah, a resident who lives nearby, told the People Sunday. Police had cordoned off all the roads surrounding the mall in central Nairobi’s Westlands neighbourhood as the incident caused a huge traffic snarl up in the area.

One eyewitness who identified himself as Rupiah said he heard the screech of brakes followed moments later by an explosion and then sustained gun fire from the ground floor. Another survivor said he was shot by a man who looked like Somali, while others said they were speaking in broken Swahili.