WHAT HAPPENED TODAY: Terrorists allied with the Somali Islamic terrorist group al-Shabab said they were "still holding their ground" in a portion of the Westgate Shopping Mall and had hostages with them. A spokesman for the group said the attack was revenge for Kenya's participation in an Africa force that pushed the group out of the Somali capital of Mogadishu in 2011.
Kenyan police and military forces said troops are "in mop-up operations in the building." An explosion and gunfire could be heard coming from the mall at around 6:30 a.m., followed by sustained automatic weapon fire.
Kenya's Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the evacuation of hostages had gone "very, very well" and that he is "very certain" that few if any hostages were left in the building.
HOW MANY SHOPPERS KILLED: The Kenya Red Cross said that 62 people had died since the siege began Saturday by an estimated 10 to 15 gunmen. However, the Associated Press reports that the Nairobi morgue was preparing for up to 60 additional bodies. Al-Shabab said many more bodies are in the mall.
WHO ARE THE VICTIMS: Most of the dead were said to be Kenyans. Also killed: four British citizens, a Dutch woman, two French nationals, an Australian man, Netherlands woman, a Peruvian, an Indian man and child, a Swiss citizen, a Chinese woman, a South African, a New Zealand man and two Canadians, including a diplomat, their governments said. An African poet and author from Ghana, Kofi Awoonor, also died, Ghana's president said.
Five American citizens were injured, U.S. officials said.
STORY: Hostages still held in mall
HOW MANY HOSTAGES REMAIN UNACCOUNTED FOR: The Foreign Ministry has been told the number of remaining hostages is "very, very minimal." Most had already been evacuated, he said.
WHO ARE THE ATTACKERS: Kenya Chief of Defense forces Gen. Julius Karangi said the terrorists are allied with al-Shabab, a Somali group loyal to al-Qaeda that has been fighting for years in Somalia to force it to convert to an Islamic theocracy. Kenya has sent forces to Mogadishu, Somalia, to combat the group.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said "two or three Americans" and "one Brit" were among the attackers. She said in an interview with the PBS NewsHour program that the Americans were 18 to 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin and lived "in Minnesota and one other place" in the USA.
The U.S. State Department said that the department had "no definitive evidence of the nationalities or the identities" of the attackers.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment