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Upscale Mall Becomes War Zone in Kenya Terror Attack Upscale Mall Becomes War Zone in Kenya Terror Attack
(about 2 hours later)
NAIROBI, Kenya — An upscale mall popular with the Kenyan elite and the foreign diplomats and businesspeople who call Nairobi home turned into a war zone on Saturday, as gunmen opened fire on shoppers in an apparent terrorist attack, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens more. NAIROBI, Kenya — Masked gunmen stormed into a fancy, crowded mall in Nairobi on Saturday and shot dead at least 30 people in one of the most chilling terrorist attacks in East Africa since Al Qaeda blew up two American Embassies in 1998.
At nightfall, the mall remained sealed off to the public as police officers and soldiers searched floor by floor for the gunmen, who were still believed to be inside with hostages. Parents threw their bodies over their children, people climbed into ventilation shafts to save themselves, and shoppers huddled behind the plastic mannequins of designer clothing stores as two squads of gunmen moved through the mall shooting shoppers in the head.
Witnesses described hearing explosions and gunfire as they fled, leaving behind blood, broken glass and carnage in what was apparently one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country’s history. The mall, called Westgate, is a symbol of Kenya’s rising prosperity, an impressive five-story building where Kenyans can buy expensive cups of frozen yogurt and plates of sushi. On Saturdays, it is especially crowded, with loose, sometimes lackadaisical security, and American officials have long warned that malls were ripe targets for Islamist terrorists, especially Westgate, because a cafe on the ground floor is owned by Israelis.
Joseph Momanyi, 26, an employee at the Nakumatt grocery store in the mall, called Westgate, said that as he was running away he heard the attackers shouting that “Muslims should leave” the complex. Fred Ngoga Gateretse, an official with the African Union, was having coffee at that cafe around noon when he heard two deafening blasts. He cowered on the floor and watched eight gunmen with scarves twisted over their faces firing at shoppers and then up at Kenyan police officers who were shooting down from a balcony as panicked shoppers dashed for cover. “Believe me, these guys were good shooters,” Mr. Gateretse said. “You could tell they were trained.”
Hours after the attack began, the Shabab, the ferocious Somali militant group that has been linked to past attacks in Kenya, suggested in a series of Twitter posts that its fighters were responsible for the massacre. Several witnesses said the attackers shouted for Muslims to run away while they hunted down other shoppers. The mall, one of Nairobi’s most luxurious, with gleaming escalators and some of the most expensive shops in town, is also popular with expatriates. It has served as the place for a power lunch, to catch a movie, to bring children for ice cream. On Saturday, the State Department said there were reports of injured American citizens but declined to elaborate, citing privacy considerations.
“The attack at Westgate Mall is just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders,” one post said. Several Western intelligence officials said they suspected that the attack was carried out by the Shabab, an Islamist militant group based in Somalia that has carried out suicide attacks and beheadings inside Somalia and threatened Kenyan malls before. A confidential United Nations report on Saturday described the attack as “a complex, two-prolonged assault” with two squads of gunmen dashing into the mall from different floors at the same time and opening fire immediately.
Others continued: “By land, air and sea, Kenyan forces invaded our Muslim country, killing hundreds of Muslims in the process and displacing thousands more. The Kenyan government, however, turned a deaf ear to our repeated warnings and continued to massacre innocent Muslims in Somalia.” It said it had warned the Kenyan government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia “would have severe consequences.” The Shabab sent out several Twitter messages after the massacre suggesting that its fighters were responsible for an attack they said represented “just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders.” One message said the Shabab had warned the Kenyan government “that failure to remove its forces from Somalia would have severe consequences.” Kenya sent troops into Somalia in 2011 to help fight the Shabab and to prevent violence from spilling over across the border the countries share.
Even before the rise of the Shabab, Kenya was a target for terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda, like the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Nairobi and coordinated attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa and an Israeli airliner in 2002. But Kenya has found itself ever more enmeshed in the bloody volatility of Somalia since October 2011, when Kenyan military forces invaded Somalia to help fight the Shabab. The Kenyan authorities blame the militant Islamist group for a grenade and gunfire attack on two churches last year that killed 15 people. As of Saturday night, Kenyan commandos had cornered several of the assailants on the third floor of the mall, witnesses said. Western officials said they expected that the assailants would fight to the death, though the Kenyan news media reported that one wounded gunman had been captured, and local news media reported that the gunman had later died in a hospital. Witnesses who escaped the mall said the assailants were holding hostages at gunpoint and that one of the assailants was a woman.
Nevertheless, Kenya is widely considered a beacon of stability in an often unstable region. The United Nations has a hub here, as do many nonprofit organizations and corporations. The country’s economy is heavily dependent on tourist revenue, with peaceful safaris and gentle holidays on the coast attracting people from all over the world. Gen. Abbas Guled, the secretary general of the Kenyan Red Cross, said in a phone interview on Saturday that 30 people had been killed and more than 60 wounded in Saturday’s attack.
Gen. Abbas Guled, the secretary general of the Kenyan Red Cross, said in a phone interview on Saturday that 30 people had been killed and more than 60 wounded in Saturday’s attack. The police had not yet confirmed any fatalities. Local news media reported that one wounded suspect had been detained at a hospital. Throughout the day, as the police cleared sections of the mall, terrified shoppers emerged with their hands up.
The State Department said it had reports that several Americans were among the wounded, although it declined to elaborate, citing privacy reasons. “We condemn this senseless act of violence that has resulted in death and injury for many innocent men, women, and children,” said a department spokeswoman, Marie Harf. Stephen Opiyo, 25, who was working at a supermarket in the mall, said: “We heard gunshots and started running, trying to find an escape route. I saw many people who had suffered gunshot injuries, and some have been taken away to hospital.”
Stephen Opiyo, 25, who was working at a supermarket there, said: “We heard gunshots and started running, trying to find an escape route. I saw many people who had suffered gunshot injuries, and some have been taken away to hospital.”
Witnesses described attackers using AK-47 rifles and throwing grenades. Photographs from the scene showed a woman’s bloody body being lifted out of a car, the glass of the window shattered.Witnesses described attackers using AK-47 rifles and throwing grenades. Photographs from the scene showed a woman’s bloody body being lifted out of a car, the glass of the window shattered.
Vivian Atieno, 26, who works on the first floor of the mall, described “intense shooting,” starting around 11 a.m., before she escaped through a fire exit.Vivian Atieno, 26, who works on the first floor of the mall, described “intense shooting,” starting around 11 a.m., before she escaped through a fire exit.
Haron Mwachia, 20, a cleaner at the mall, said he escaped by climbing over a wall. “I heard several gunshots and managed to run away,” he said. Haron Mwachia, 20, a cleaner at the mall, said he escaped by climbing over a wall. “I heard several gunshots and managed to run away,” he said. “It was a horrible experience to me, and I was extremely afraid. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“It was a horrible experience to me, and I was extremely afraid,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Kenya serves as the economic engine of East Africa, and while it has been mostly spared the violence and turmoil of many of its neighbors, it is no stranger to terrorist attacks. In 1998, Al Qaeda killed more than 200 people in an enormous truck bombing of the American Embassy in downtown Nairobi, while simultaneously attacking the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Islamist terrorists also struck an Israeli-owned hotel on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast in 2002 and fired missiles at an Israeli airliner.
Military helicopters hovered overhead as the police kept bystanders away from the scene. The police said they had surrounded the mall, and officers were seen clearing the shops one by one. More recently, the Shabab have put Kenya in its cross hairs, especially after Kenya sent thousands of troops into Somalia in 2011 to chase the Shabab away from its borders. The Shabab have attacked churches in eastern Kenya, mosques in Nairobi and government outposts along the desiccated Kenya-Somalia border.
“Our officers are on the ground carrying out an evacuation of those inside as they search for the attackers, who are said to be inside,” Inspector General David Kimaiyo of the Kenyan police told Agence France-Presse. But this was the boldest attack yet. Within minutes, as the gunmen opened fired with assault rifles, Westgate was plunged into mayhem and carnage. People ran out screaming and victims soaking in their own blood were wheeled out in shopping carts. Bodies were still sprawled on the mall’s front steps hours afterward, and woozy shoppers continue to emerge from the stores where they had been hiding.
Agence France-Presse reported that the gunmen had taken at least seven hostages, citing police officers and security guards at the scene. The Red Cross reported around 5 p.m. on its Twitter account that the hostages were being released. “This is such a shock,” said Preeyam Sehmi, an artist, as she stumbled out of the mall, past a phalanx of Kenyan soldiers, after five hours of hiding. “Westgate was such a social place.”
Benson Kibue, the Nairobi police chief, told The Associated Press that it was a terrorist attack and that there were probably no more than 10 gunmen involved. Earlier, Mr. Kibue said the attack had been part of an attempted robbery.
Saturday’s attack ruptured the bubble of safety that surrounds the affluent districts of the Kenyan capital. The mall is in many ways like an American shopping mall, with a Converse store, a tapas restaurant and a corner where children can play while their parents shop and eat.
On weekends, Westgate is bustling with shoppers, including well-to-do Kenyans and members of the city’s large contingent of expatriates. Brightly lighted, with peach-colored pillars and a marble stairway, the mall has more than 80 stores covering 350,000 square feet.
Many shopping malls in Nairobi have security guards outside, checking vehicles, searching bags and using metal-detecting wands on visitors before they enter. But the guards — lightly armed, if at all — would be no match for assailants armed with automatic rifles.
Ilana Stein, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the attack took place near the ArtCaffe, an Israeli-owned coffee shop and bakery popular with foreigners that is one of 80 businesses in the mall. Ms. Stein said that one Israeli was lightly injured and three others escaped unharmed, and that the Kenyan interior minister said Israelis were not being targeted. “This time, the story is not about Israel,” Ms. Stein said. “The minister is saying that this is an internal Kenyan issue. His security forces tell him that this terror organization was not targeting Israelis.”Ilana Stein, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the attack took place near the ArtCaffe, an Israeli-owned coffee shop and bakery popular with foreigners that is one of 80 businesses in the mall. Ms. Stein said that one Israeli was lightly injured and three others escaped unharmed, and that the Kenyan interior minister said Israelis were not being targeted. “This time, the story is not about Israel,” Ms. Stein said. “The minister is saying that this is an internal Kenyan issue. His security forces tell him that this terror organization was not targeting Israelis.”
For years, there have been growing concerns that the Shabab would try to pull off a significant attack here in reprisal for Kenya’s deployment of troops in Somalia. As the episode unfolded, helicopters hovered overhead while soldiers in flak jackets and helmets jogged single file into the mall, faces grim, guns cocked. The flashing lights of ambulances lighted up the mall’s facade. Gunshots continued to ring out after nightfall, though the Kenyan authorities did not provide much information about what was happening inside the mall. Several Kenyan soldiers were wounded.
The group has executed revenge attacks on other African countries that sent troops to Somalia, including Uganda. In July 2010, the Shabab killed more than 70 people who had gathered at a restaurant and a rugby field in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, to watch the final match of the World Cup. The Shabab, once again in a Twitter message, said the fighters inside the mall would not give up.

Reuben Kyama reported from Nairobi, and Nicholas Kulish from Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Tyler Hicks contributed reporting from Nairobi, and Jodi Rudoren from Jerusalem.

“There will be no negotiations whatsoever at #Westgate,” the message said.

Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Nairobi, and Nicholas Kulish from Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuben Kyama and Tyler Hicks contributed reporting from Nairobi, and Jodi Rudoren from Jerusalem.