I’ve been out of sorts all weekend with the move into the new home, so I didn’t get a chance to post about this terrorist attack in Keyna. They are now going into day three and now at least 68 people are dead and some hostages still remain, but according to Kenyan officials most are free:
NBC NEWS – Three large explosions were heard at a shopping mall in Kenya’s capital early Monday as a hostage standoff involving al Qaeda-linked terrorists which left at least 68 people dead entered its third day.
The blasts occurred shortly after 6 a.m. ET. Black smoke was also seen billowing from the complex. Heavy bursts of gunfire had been heard early Monday.
“Two terrorists have been killed as a result of our activities this morning and several injured,” Interior Cabinet Secretary Ole Lenku told a press conference on Monday.
Lenku added that some of the militants who seized Nairobi’s Westgate Mall on Saturday had been dressed as women.
Armed police take cover behind a wall outside the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday. (Ben Curtis / AP)
The military-style, lunchtime assault by squads of al-Shabab attackers hurling grenades and spraying automatic fire also resulted in at least 175 injuries, including many children.
Al-Shabab said the assault, which targeted non-Muslims, was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighboring Somalia.
A military official said late Sunday that “most” of the hostages had been freed.
David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of Kenya’s police, posted on his Twitter account Monday that more hostages had been rescued overnight and “very few are remaining.”
He added: “We are also closing in on the attackers.”
Kenya Police’s Twitter account also urged the public to stay away from the shopping mall “as we intensify our operations.”
The FBI said it was investigating reports that as many as five Americans were among the group of al Qaeda-linked terrorists who raided the Westgate mall in Nairobi on Saturday.
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