Kenya mall attack: security forces ‘close in’
Kenyan security forces say that three militants are dead after officers storm Nairobi’s besieged Westgate mall in an attempt to rescue hostages. Six Britons are among the dead.
Military helicopters circled over the mall and several bursts of sustained gunfire continued to be heard on Monday, as Kenyan security forces closed in on the mall, most of which they say they now control.
Three of the attackers are reported to have been killed and more than 10 suspects have been arrested.
Police Inspector General General David Kimaiyo said on Twitter: “Taken control of all the floors. We’re not here to feed the attackers with pastries, but to finish and punish them.”
Earlier, Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said that the gunmen holed up inside the Nairobi shopping mall had caused a plume of smoke by setting mattresses alight in a supermarket as a decoy, and that two of the “terrorists” had been killed.
An estimated 10 to 15 armed militants were thought to be still inside. It was unclear how many people were still being held on Monday, but in a statement on Monday lunchtime, Mr Lenku said that the evacuation had gone “very well”, and said that very few people, if any, were still inside.
“We have done a search of the building and we can confirm that the hostages, almost all of them, have been evacuated,” he said.
The mujahideen will kill the hostages if the enemies use force – al-Shabaab spokesman
The interior ministry has also arrested several people at the airport.
Mr Lenku added: “We don’t want to give you a definitive position on when we think the process will come to an end, but we are doing anything reasonably possible, cautiously though, to bring this process to an end.”
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said six Britons were now thought to have died in the attack, and warned that the figure could rise still further as the crisis continues to unfold.
The Red Cross has revised the total death toll from the attack down to at least 62, with more than 175 people injured. Over 1,000 people managed to leave the mall safely.
David Cameron has warned the UK to be braced for “more bad news” and returned early from Balmoral to chair a meeting of Cobra, the government’s crisis response committee, on Monday afternoon.
Read more: ‘Foreigners are not safe in Kenya’, al-Shabaab tells Channel 4 News
The evacuation of hostages has “gone very well” and very few, if any, are still inside, says Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku
Male and multi-national
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked militant group, al-Shabaab, has claimed responsibility for the attack that specifically targeted non-Muslims, saying it was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighbouring Somalia.
A spokesman issued a stark warning that they would kill hostages if Kenyan security forces, who are being assisted by western experts, tried to storm their positions: “Israelis and Kenyan forces have tried to enter Westgate by force but they could not,” Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in an audio statement posted online.
We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multi-national collection from all over the world – General Julius Karangi
“The mujahideen will kill the hostages if the enemies use force.”
A clearer picture of the militants involved was also beginning to emerge on Monday. Mr Lenku said that said that all the militants were men, although some had dressed as women, possibly explaining witness accounts that some of those who launched the assault on Saturday were women.
And Kenya’s chief of defence forces, General Julius Karangi, said the fighters were from many different nationalities: “We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world.”
Amateur footage appears to show the moments that militants entered the mall on Saturday
Meanwhile judges at the International Criminal Court adjourned the trial of Kenyan Vice President William Ruto for one week so he could return home and deal with the hostage crisis.
Mr Ruto and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to their role in coordinating a wave of violence that swept Kenya in the aftermath of the country’s contested 2007 elections.
No negotiation
A large military assault began on the mall on Sunday evening but was still ongoing on Monday afternoon.
Col Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan military spokesman, said that most of those freed in a search and rescue operation on Sunday, had not been held by the gunmen but had instead found places of refuge within the mall. He said “a very small number” were still captive, but gave no details.
He added: “We will not negotiate with terrorists.”
President Kenyatta, who lost his nephew on Saturday, said he would hold firm on the “war on terror”.
Al-Shabaab has demanded that the Kenyan president pull troops out of Somalia, after they pushed the militants on to the defensive over the past two years as part of an African Union-backed peacekeeping mission. Mr Kenyatta refused.
“I assure Kenyans that we have as good a chance to successfully neutralise the terrorists as we can hope for,” he said on Sunday. “We will punish the masterminds swiftly and painfully.”
‘White Widow’
There were suggestions over the weekend that a female British terror suspect nicknamed the “White Widow” could have been linked to the plot.
It came after reports emerged that a woman was among the attackers, fuelling speculation that Samantha Lewthwaite, who was married to 7 July bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was involved. She is already wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell planning bomb attacks.
But Kenyan officials on Monday ruled out her involvement.
