Gunshots ring out at Nairobi mall; Kenyans mourn
By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and TOM ODULA
Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Gunshots rang out from the upscale mall in Kenya's
capital Wednesday morning, the day after the president declared an end to a
four-day siege by Islamic militants.
Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu told The Associated Press the shots came
from Kenyan forces going room to room in the large Westgate Mall, firing
protectively before entering unknown territory.
"During sanitization once you take control of the place if you go to a room
where you haven't visited before you shoot first to make sure you aren't
walking into an ambush," he said. "But there hasn't been any gunfire from
the terrorists for more than 36 hours."
But a top security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the information, said even around the time President
Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation in a televised address that "we have ashamed
and defeated our attackers" on Tuesday night, three shots rang out at the
mall.
He said Kenyan authorities are still trying to determine where those shots
came from.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government said forensic experts from the United
States, Britain and Israel would be assisting them in their investigation of
the attack.
"The mall is sealed off, it is a crime scene," Esipisu said.
The process of retrieving bodies from inside the mall still had not begun
Wednesday morning - possibly indicating that the situation was not yet
considered secure - though a city morgue official said his workers were
preparing to go into the building soon.
The attack claimed by Somali militant group al-Shabab killed at least 61
civilians, six security officers and five extremists, the president said.
Three floors of the mall collapsed, and at least one more militant's body is
believed to be buried in the rubble. Officials said the death count will
likely rise. Estimates varied between only a few bodies to dozens of bodies
possibly still inside the mall.
Another 175 people were injured, including more than 60 who remain
hospitalized.
Kenyatta declared three days of national mourning beginning on Wednesday.
Eleven other suspects have been taken into custody, but Esipisu would not
comment on what information they may have given to authorities.
"At this at this point the interrogations are ongoing and I can't reveal any
of the details, "he said.
Al-Shabab, whose name means "The Youth" in Arabic, first began threatening
Kenya with a major terror attack in late 2011, after Kenya sent troops into
Somalia following a spate of kidnappings of Westerners inside Kenya.
The al-Shabab extremists stormed the mall on Saturday, throwing grenades and
firing on civilians.
The group used Twitter throughout the four-day siege to say that Somalis
have been suffering at the hands of Kenyan military operations in Kenya, and
the mall attack was revenge.
"You could have avoided all this and lived your lives with relative safety,"
the group Tweeted Tuesday. "Remove your forces from our country and peace
will come."
---
Associated Press writer David Rising contributed to this story from Nairobi,
Kenya.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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