http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-23/kenyan-foreign-minister-confirms-mall-attack-was-al-qaeda
( Hmm , bad Al Qaeda acting up again ! Perhaps US's good Al Qaeda pals in Syria can talk to these guys or something ... )
Kenyan Foreign Minister Confirms Mall Attack Was By Al-Qaeda
UPDATE: Kenyan interior ministry tweets that authorities are in control of Westgate mall
As the dreadful Nairobi Mall attack/siege enters its third night with at least 69 dead, the Kenyan foreign minister has clarified one point:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/09/22/al-shabaab-three-americans-among-gunmen-in-kenya-mall/
Last Update: Sunday, 22 September 2013 KSA 21:09 - GMT 18:09
Death toll in Kenya mall siege rises to 68, says Red Cross
Al Arabiya
Kenya’s Red Cross said on Sunday that the death toll in siege in an upscale Nairobi shopping center has risen to 68.
The gunmen remain inside with hostages nearly 24 hours after the attack was launched with grenades and assault rifles.
Lenku said that there are 10 to 15 attackers involved. He said that Kenyan forces have control of the security cameras inside the mall. Combined military and police forces have surrounded the building.
The gunmen remain inside with hostages nearly 24 hours after the attack was launched with grenades and assault rifles.
Lenku said that there are 10 to 15 attackers involved. He said that Kenyan forces have control of the security cameras inside the mall. Combined military and police forces have surrounded the building.
Somali al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group al-Shabaab said on Twitter that the attack 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 (infidels) inside their own turf,” al-Shabaab said on Twitter on Saturday, according to AFP.
“What Kenyans are witnessing at #Westgate is retributive justice for crimes committed by their military,” the group said.
Fresh gunfire
Gunfire erupted briefly on Sunday inside the Nairobi shopping mall where Islamist militants remain along with hostages, the day after around 59 people were killed in an attack by the al-Shabaab group.
Shortly before shots were heard, which erupted as Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was making a national address, more than a dozen security personnel dressed in green camouflage were seen moving into the building, according to a Reuters witness.
Kenyatta said on Sunday that his country “will not relent on the war on terror,” according to Reuters, when asked if he plans to pull Kenyan forces out of Somalia.
When asked whether hostages in the besieged mall had explosives strapped to them, Kenyatta said he had no comment to make.
Two French citizens were killed in Saturday’s “terrorist” attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, the French presidential palace said in a statement.
France's premier Francois Hollande “condemns the cowardly attack in the strongest terms and shares the pain of the family of our compatriots,” said the statement.
British Prime Minister David Cameron also said that at least three Britons were killed.
Kenyan forces entered Somalia two years ago to combat al-Shabaab militants, and maintain a presence in the country as part of an African Union force that supports Somalia's internationally-backed government.
Israeli forces enter Nairobi mall: Kenyan security officials
A Kenyan security official says Israeli forces have entered a shopping mall in the capital, Nairobi, where Somali militants have already killed dozens of people and an unknown number of hostages are still being held.
Local security officials say the Israeli forces have joined Kenyans to end the deadly mall siege on Sunday. The Kenyan troops backed by Israeli forces are now battling against gunmen holding dozens of people hostage inside the shopping mall for the second day.
"The Israelis have just entered and they are rescuing the hostages and the injured," media outlets quoted an unnamed senior Kenyan security source as saying.
Kenyan military spokesman noted that a large number of well-equipped forces are fighting the assailants that attacked the mall, killing nearly 60 people and injuring some 200 more.
"We are still battling with the attackers and our forces have managed to maroon the attackers on one of the floors," said Colonel Cyrus Oguna, adding, "We hope to bring this to an end today."
There are reports of sporadic gunfire inside the mall as Kenyan forces try to kill or capture the remaining 10 to 15 gunmen who are holding about 70 people hostage.
The carnage on Saturday started when gunmen stormed the Westgate Mall in an upscale neighborhood, throwing hand grenades and indiscriminately firing at people.
Somalia’s al-Shabab fighters have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta says he has lost family members in the deadly attack. He also vowed to bring perpetrators and attackers to justice for targeting innocent civilians
"Let me make it clear. We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them. We shall punish them for this heinous crime,” Kenyatta said in a televised address to the nation late Saturday.
The attack was the worst in Nairobi since an al-Qaeda bombing at the US Embassy killed over 200 people in 1998.
http://rt.com/news/kenya-mall-attack-nairobi-204/
Kenya shopping mall siege: LIVE UPDATES
Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group took dozens of people hostage after seizing the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Saturday, killing at least 59 people.
Sunday, September 22
Tuesday, September 24
10:20 GMT: The UN Envoy for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, said that the price of walking away from Somalia would be very high, Reuters reports.
"Security remains the number one challenge, the control and defeating of al Shabaab is key to this," Kay told the press in Geneva. "The amount of money that we're talking about that's required for the extra effort in Somalia would be very small. But the cost of walking away would be very expensive."
He also asked for an increased military support to be given to African troops to counter al-Shabaab's terrorist activities, but added that now is the chance to bring to stability to Somalia.
"They have, for example, not a single military helicopter for a campaign in a country that is the size of Afghanistan physically. This is a mission that needs extra resources in terms of enablers - helicopters and armoured vehicles, and possibly a surge also in numbers of troops."
He promised that the cost of the proposed effort to clamp down on the militants would be very small compared to what the international community spent in Afghanistan, Mali and Iraq. But the price of failure, he added, would be very high.
"The Westgate attacks show that the threat from al Shabaab is international, we have seen it before in Kampala and I fear we could see it again elsewhere too. The ideology and terrorist intent respects no borders," Kay said.
10:00 GMT: Kenyan police say they are currently sweeping the mall and checking for explosives.
A local official also said that the city morgues is preparing for the arrival of a large number of bodies of the victims of the Westgate mall attack, which currently stands at 62. There are many bodies remaining inside the mall, according to an AP witness - a brother of one of the soldiers taking part in the military operation.
08:50 GMT: The militants claim there are still live hostages inside the shopping mall, according to various international news sources.
08:40 GMT: The al-Shabaab militia claims they have spoken to their 'mujahideen' (fighters) and despite earlier claims that the fighting could be coming to a close, say "the fighting has just started."
08:15 GMT: The militants are disputing the claims that foreigners were among the ranks of the hostage-takers. And those that claim they are American or British "do not know what is going on," Reuters reports.
At the same time, a British security source says it is "a possibility" that Samantha Lewthwaite, a UK citizen, was involved with the militants, but added that no conclusive evidence exists yet to support the claim.
07:47 GMT: As Kenya's military searches Westgate mall for remaining terrorist elements and finds out more about their identities, al-Shabaab claims the 'mujahideen' are "still holding their ground," Reuters reports.
07:24 GMT: Al-Shabaab now claims on their Twitter that they are changing into uniforms of dead soldiers.
Monday, September 23
18:40 GMT: UK's Secretary of Defence Philip Hammond has told Sky News that the confirmed number of Britons among the victims of the attack has risen to six - from four - and the death toll may not be final.
16:35 GMT: The White House has released a statement saying that it has no hard information about the involvement of US citizens in the Nairobi hostage-taking, but is nonetheless aware of Al-Shabaab attempting to recruit Americans. Earlier, American media reported that FBI is investigating several members of the Somali diaspora in the US in connection with the attack.
15:20 GMT: Kenya Defence Forces, which have been conducting the operation, say they have sealed off the building and are scanning the floors of the shopping center one by one.
They have also published an updated death and injury toll. 62 people are dead, as reported before, and 65 are still receiving treatment in hospital. 11 soldiers have been injured. More than 200 civilians have been rescued.
13:25 GMT: While the amount of hostages left inside has been described as "minimal" by officials, fire exchanges between the terrorists and security forces can still be heard, reports AP.
12:50 GMT: The Kenyan Red Cross has revised the number of deaths in the mall attack to 62, reducing the death toll by seven. The previous number was wrong due to double counts of some bodies as they were moved from morgue to morgue.
11:50 GMT: Two shopping mall attackers have been killed and others wounded by Kenyan troops, Interior Minister Joseph Lenku told journalists. Some of the Kenyan forces sustained injuries in the firefight. Four blasts were heard by reporters stationed outside.
The minister said all of the attackers were male, but some were wearing female clothes, which probably explained witness accounts, which said there were women among the terrorists.
He added that the plume of smoke rising over the mall comes from mattresses, which have been set alight by the gunmen as a decoy.
11:20 GMT: A suspected member of the terrorist group currently holding hostages in a Kenyan shopping mall was arrested in the Netherlands. Muhammed Hussein Ahmed, a 38-year-old Dutch citizen, was detained after he bought a plane ticket to Turkey, Dutch TV RTL reported.
11:11 GMT: Some of the hostages held by militants have been rescued in the latest twist of the rescue operation, AFP reports citing Kenyan police chief.
10:20 GMT: Heavy gunfire, explosions heard at the Kenyan shopping mall, witnesses report. Smoke is seen rising from the area. TV footage from the scene showed Kenyan troops running into the complex.
"It is us who caused the explosion, we are trying to get in through the roof," one security official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters at the scene.
06:48 GMT: International Criminal Court proceedings for the trial of Kenya's deputy president have been put on a week's hold as a result of the hostage crisis, Reuters reports.
06: 38 GMT: Two blasts accompanied by brief gunfire were heard from inside the Nairobi mall, according to a Reuters witness.
The news comes as Israeli advisers are aiding Kenyan forces with developing a strategy to end the siege, after having earlier tried and failed to enter the building.
"Israelis and Kenyan forces have tried to enter Westgate (mall) by force but they could not, the mujahideen (fighters) will kill the hostages if the enemies use force," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, Al-Shabaab spokesman said earlier in clip posted on the website www.somalimemo.net
05:40 GMT: The militants have threatened to kill hostages as a result of the Kenyan troops moving in on their positions inside the mall, Al-Shabaab spokesman said, according to Naharnet.
05:38 GMT: As Reuters journalists reported bursts of rifle fire from inside the Westgate complex, there also appeared to be clashes taking place inside the building, according to Abbas Guled of the Kenyan Red Cross.
As day broke, following a quiet night, Reuters journalists near the upmarket Westgate complex heard bursts of rifle fire and muffled blasts. A Kenyan Red Cross official, Abbas Guled, said there appeared to be clashes inside the building.
03:20 GMT: There are reports of heavy gunfire being heard from inside the Westgate shopping mall, according to AFP. A security source told the news agency that an assault is underway.
Sunday, September 22
23:54 GMT: The shopping mall siege is not over yet, BBC quoted Kenya’s military as saying. The military added that the top priority is getting the hostages out alive, which makes the operation very delicate.
22:57 GMT: US Secretary of State John Kerry said the attack demonstrates the "seriousness" of the threat posed by Somali militants. The US has increased its security in response to the attack by "ruthless and completely reckless terrorists."
22:54 GMT: The FBI has begun investigating whether Americans were involved in the Nairobi mall attack based on terrorists’ tweets, sources told NBC News.
21:28 GMT: Among the dead is a 38-year-old Chinese woman. Her son was injured and is currently in hospital in a stable condition, the Chinese Embassy in Kenya said in a statement.
21:24 GMT: Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that a dual Australian-UK national was killed in the shopping mall siege.
21:06 GMT: Kenyan military spokesperson Colonel Cyrus Oguna confirmed that “most of the hostages have been released, and the Kenya Defence Forces has taken control of most parts of the building"where at least 68 people were killed.
20:40 GMT: Four military personnel were injured during the latest rescue operation, Kenya Defence Forces stated.
20:37 GMT: Kenyan authorities have regained control of most of the mall and have rescued most of the hostages, Kenya Defence Forces tweeted.
17:50 GMT: One of the victims of the terrorist attack was Peruvian doctor Juan Jesús Ortiz, former deputy head of the Kenyan branch of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Ortiz’s daughter was injured during the attack. The 63-year-old physician was a UNICEF consultant on issues of public health systems.
17:00 GMT: Kenyan troops have launched an assault on cornered Somali militants holding people hostage in the Westgate shopping mall.
"Godspeed to our guys in the Westgate building," Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a message on Twitter. "Major engagement ongoing."
"Godspeed to our guys in the Westgate building," Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a message on Twitter. "Major engagement ongoing."
16:55 GMT: US President Barack Obama called Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta to say that the US will support Kenya's efforts to bring the perpetrators of the shopping mall attack to justice.
16:30 GMT:
Hey Fred,
ReplyDeleteThis Kenyan mall thing is a little bit strange with the Israelis helping out.
Dang Merkel seems to have pulled through.
Good evening Kev - Well , in this instance , I have no problem with Israel being asked to help out in this hostage situation - they have international hostages still alive and Israel has considerable Entebbe like experiences to draw on .....If I was in the Westgate Mall as a hostage , I would want Israelis with their Kenyan colleagues planning the inevitable breach , rather than Kenyan soldiers by themselves ! And that is no slight intended to the Kenyan forces , just a reality that Israel has been there , done that .
ReplyDeleteAs far as Merkel - she won a battle but the war will be forming a government - Merkel 's CDU / CSU did not win an absolute majority - and without FDP or AFD eligible to take part in the next government ( neither has hit the 5 percent number ) , it looks like she will have to join up with rival SPD ! And from the standpoint of SDP , they may drive a hard bargain to form the next German government with Merkel - and this will not be a stable Coalition( unlike one with FDP or even AFD may have been. ) A Green party alliance is unlikely - see my updated post on the German Election , I added some of issues plaguing Greens presently ! Once the smoke clears and the champagne goes flat , folks will realize things are not as settled as they may have seemed ! Forming a government could take a while , Europe should get a snicker's bar .....