Islamic extremists opened fire in a Kenyan mall, leaving scores of people dead and several more wounded.
Gunmen with links to Al-Qaeda lobbed grenades and showered bullets into the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday, September 21. The attack has left a total body count of 39 people and injuring up to 150 more.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta counts some of his close family as victims of the attack, and says that delicate security measures are currently underway.
The Westgate Mall, which is frequented by middle-class Kenyans as well as foreign expatriates, erupted into chaos as several gunmen entered and threw grenades, moving up several levels from the ground floor on a shooting rampage. Some gunmen were said to have cornered a group of mall-goers, asking which of them were Muslim; those who said yes were freed, but the non-muslims, unfortunately, were not.
The gunfire began after noon, with panicked shoppers fleeing and hiding anywhere they considered safe: bank vaults, service hallways, store corners-Over the next hours, several victims were rescued by undercover police officers who moved in, the wounded rolled out in shopping carts.
Foreigners were not spared in the attack; two French women were reported dead, as well as two Canadian women, one of them a diplomat.
Somalian Islamist extremist group al-Shabab have come forward to claim responsibility for the attacks, announcing on its Twitter account that the attack was retribution for Kenyan forces entering Somalia, and promised more attacks to come.
"There Will Be No Negotiations Whatsoever"
Army special forced have descended into the Westgate Mall to flush out the gunmen, but some have remained inside the mall with several hostages.
"There will be no negotiations whatsoever," al-Shabab declared via Twitter, after security officials were making negotiations for the hostages' release.
Al-Shabab had repeatedly called for Kenyan government to remove its forces from Somalian territory, saying on its Twitter account that if Kenya will not stop their war on Somalia, the Somalia will bring war upon Kenya. The attack on Westgate mall, they claimed, was to be "the first of many more."
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