Blasts Heard as Kenya Presses Assault Against Mall Attackers
By NICHOLAS KULISH
Gunshots and explosions emanated from the besieged Westgate mall in
Nairobi early Monday after the Kenya authorities said “most” of it was
under the control of the military. Official said the attackers still
held up to 10 hostages.
Video: Outside Westgate Mall
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Shots Ring Out in Footage of Attack
Shots and Explosions Heard as Kenya Presses Assault Against Militants in Mall
Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesSmoke rose from Westgate Mall, where hostages were being held on Monday.By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: September 23, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya — The standoff at a luxury mall in Nairobi, which the Kenyan authorities had vowed would end Sunday night, entered a third day Monday heralded by volleys of gunfire, the boom of explosions and a column of thick, black smoke rising from the besieged shopping center.Lens Blog
Witness to a Massacre in a Nairobi Mall
Tyler Hicks, a Times photographer, was nearby when gunmen opened fire on an upscale Kenyan mall.Related
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Gunmen Kill Dozens in Terror Attack at Kenyan Mall (September 22, 2013)
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The Lede: Shots Ring Out in Footage Recorded During Kenya Mall Attack (September 22, 2013)
Times Topic: Al Shabab
Carl De Souza/AFP — Getty Images
Kenyan soldiers take cover after heavy gunfire near Westgate mall in Nairobi on Monday.Jerome Delay/Associated Press
A man who lost his father in the attack was comforted by relatives at a city morgue on Monday.Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Kenyan soldiers took position near the Westgate mall on Sunday.Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Kenyan soldiers set up a cordon around the mall, where militants and civilians remained inside for a second day on Sunday.Government troops could be seen massing outside the building.Seeking to end an assault that has left scores dead and shaken the country, the Kenyan government said on Sunday it was pressing a counterattack against Shabab militant attackers holed up in the mall since Saturday. The military announced that it had retaken most of the complex of stores and cafes, but by early Monday, government forces appeared to have found it more difficult to dislodge the attackers than expected.A few hours later, the smoke coming from the building seemed to indicate that the struggle had entered a new phase but the origin and cause of the conflagration was not clear. Helicopters circled overhead.The attackers have been confined to the third floor of the complex since their initial assault Saturday. Security forces freed most of the hostages over the weekend, though details could not be confirmed. Helicopters circled the mall building through the night as heavy rain fell.“Most areas of the building are now in the control of K.D.F.,” said Col. Cyrus Oguna, referring to the Kenya Defense Forces. He told the television station KTN that most of the hostages taken by the militants had been rescued. “We know the number cannot be more than 10 right now.”The Shabab, a militant group based mostly in neighboring Somalia, warned on Twitter that “Kenyan forces who’ve just attempted a roof landing must know that they are jeopardizing the lives of all the hostages at #Westgate.” Another Web posting, quoted by Reuters and ascribed to the militants, threatened to kill the remaining hostages if force was used against them.Officials said that at least four members of the security forces had been wounded. But there were no other details about casualties on either side.The attack on the mall deeply distressed Kenya, a country that has grown in stature as a force against terrorism in East Africa. As the toll mounted — at least 68 were reported dead by late Sunday, with some people still unaccounted for — the potential for even greater loss of life seemed tangible.On Monday, reflecting the breadth of the crisis, judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague took the unusual step of suspending for one week the trial of Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, on charges of crimes against humanity so that he could return home to assist in the government’s response.Mr. Ruto has pleaded not guilty to three charges relating to the violence that rocked the country after the disputed 2007 election.Addressing the country, President Uhuru Kenyatta sounded a note of solidarity in loss, revealing that his nephew and the man’s fiancée were among the dead. “These are young, lovely people I personally knew and loved,” Mr. Kenyatta said. “Many of us have lost loved ones. Let us mourn them all as one nation and keep them always in remembrance and prayer.”He said security forces had rescued more than 1,000 people from the mall since the violence began on Saturday, calling the forces’ performance “remarkable and encouraging,” even as he asked for patience from the public as the standoff continued.The assault on Westgate was the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 Qaeda truck bombing of the American Embassy in Nairobi that killed more than 200 people.President Obama called Mr. Kenyatta on Sunday to reaffirm the “strong and historic partnership between the United States and Kenya.” That relationship has been strained by the election in March of Mr. Kenyatta, who is being prosecuted at the International Criminal Court on charges of financing death squads during the 2007 political violence. Mr. Obama skipped visiting Kenya, his father’s birthplace, on his trip to Africa in late June.The Shabab have said that they staged the mall attack as retribution for the Kenyan military presence in Somalia, where Kenyan troops have driven Shabab fighters out of much of the territory they once controlled. A confidential United Nations security report described the assault on the mall as two-pronged, with groups of gunmen attacking on different floors simultaneously.Joseph Ole Lenku, the cabinet secretary for the interior, said Sunday afternoon that 10 to 15 attackers were inside the mall. Mr. Kenyatta said he could not confirm reports that one or more of the attackers were women. A message on Twitter attributed to the Shabab claimed that several of the attackers were American. A senior law enforcement official in the United States said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had yet to establish whether that claim was true and that it would be difficult to do so until all the attackers were captured or killed.The BBC quoted a Shabab spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Omar, as denying a flurry of claims on Twitter that the attackers included British and American citizens and women assailants.The number of bystanders remaining in the building was not as clear, though the Kenya Red Cross, citing the police, said Sunday that 49 people were unaccounted for, raising the prospect of a higher death toll.The American official said the F.B.I. had offered assistance to the Kenyan authorities and that F.B.I. agents were at the Kenyan command post at the scene. There were reports that Israelis were supporting the Kenyan authorities as well; a spokeswoman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said she could not comment. The secretary general of Interpol, Ronald K. Noble, said in a statement that his agency had offered to send a response team, including forensic and counterterrorism experts.Mr. Kenyatta said that he had received “numerous offers of assistance from friendly countries; for the time being, however, this remains an operation of the Kenyan security agencies.”Among those killed in the mall were three Britons, the British Foreign Office confirmed Sunday, and Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that he was cutting short a visit to Scotland and returning to London to head a meeting of the so-called Cobra committee of senior ministers and security officials. News agencies reported that other foreigners were killed as well.Five Americans were wounded.The identities of victims began to emerge on Sunday.One of those killed was Ruhila Adatia-Sood, a popular Kenyan radio host who was in the parking lot of the mall hosting a cooking competition, according to reports. She posted several photos on her Instagram account before the attack.Also among the dead was Kofi Awoonor, 78, a Ghanaian poet and former professor at the University of Ghana.Hundreds of relatives and friends of people who were in the mall went to hospitals around the city that were treating the wounded, trying to learn the fate of family members.At the M P Shah Hospital a few miles away from the mall, distressed relatives milled around a tent erected for them outside the building, as volunteers worked to assist them.Ruth Nyambura, 26, whose uncle was working at the Nakumatt Supermarket in Westgate at the time of the attack, said she was terrified.“I have come along with my family just to find out how he’s doing,” Ms. Nyambura said. “He was shot in the head, suffered severe wounds on his one of his eyes and his arms. He was operated on yesterday, and we''ve come to see him again. We are being told to wait because the queue is too long.”Kenya’s political class, often starkly divided, has demonstrated unity since the attack. Raila Odinga, a former prime minister and a political opponent of Mr. Kenyatta, joined him in an appearance at the State House on Sunday.“This is a trying moment for our country,” Mr. Odinga said. “It is something that has hit at the very heart of our country''s unity. Our people must come together at times like this to help each other.”In his address on Sunday, Mr. Kenyatta, too, appealed for unity. “We have ashamed and defeated our attackers,” he said. “Let us continue to wage a relentless moral war as our forces conduct a physical battle. We shall triumph.”
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