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Twenty two hours after attackers stormed an upscale Nairobi mall, grim-faced Kenyan soldiers warily searched the five-story building, looking for hostages and assailants. The attack left 43 people dead, Kenyan Red Cross chief Abbas Gullet said Sunday. More than 200 others remain hospitalized. It was the deadliest terror attack in the nation since al Qaeda blew up the U.S. Embassy in 1998, killing more than two hundred people.
The attack Saturday targeted a popular weekend meeting spot. Kenyans and expatriates gather at the luxurious Westgate mall on weekends to drink lattes, catch a movie or browse through the more than 80 stores. Al-Shabaab, al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack Saturday, and said it was not backing down. In a message on its Twitter page, the group said "all Muslims" were escorted from the mall before the attack.
As the sun rose Sunday, the standoff between Kenyan forces and the attackers continued.
Soldiers kept vigil outside the mall, guns dangling from their shoulders.
Many unknowns
An unknown number of hostages were still holed up Sunday in parts of the mall, the National Disaster Operation Centre tweeted, but declined to provide more information.
Three injured security forces were taken out of t he besieged mall, but the severity of their injuries was unclear. An apparent hostage left the building Sunday, and said she had been hiding in the basement of the mall, CNN Affiliate KTN reported. The attackers targeted the luxurious mall on an especially crowded day. Wealthy Kenyans and expatriates gather there on weekends to drink lattes, catch a movie a or browse through the more than 80 stores. Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the bloodshed and vowed not to negotiate with Kenyan authorities.
The group said "all Muslims" were escorted from the mall before the attack.
"The Mujahideen are still strong inside #Westgate Mall and still holding their ground," the group tweeted late Saturday. Its account was later suspended. A day of horror. The calm was shattered around noon local time Saturday. Gunshots erupted as shoppers picked up groceries, savored lunch and browsed through the racks at stores.
Before long, pools of blood smeared pristine hallways. Bodies lay strewn across the floor.
Uche Kaigwa-Okoye was sipping coffee when he heard what first sounded like a fallen table, then the continuing rat-a-tat of gunfire. As the gunshots became louder, screaming crowds headed for the exits.
He joined 20 people who took shelter for about five hours in a women's bathroom cubicle.
"They had grenades, and it was really, really loud," he said of the attackers. He noticed tear gas in the hallways as well.
"All of us felt like they were close," he said.
As people texted family and friends outside the mall, word spread that nobody could be trusted. And even if the good guys could be sorted from the bad guys, the barrage of intermittent gunfire made any escape seem futile.
Sara Head, a Washington resident, experienced similar horror in the mall's parking garage. As her car pulled up, she heard gunfire. She crawled underneath and hid behind cars before getting into a stairwell.
Eventually, the stairwell lights came back on and the door to a nearby supermarket opened. She dashed through, passed a nearby loading dock and fled to safety.
"There was blood throughout the supermarket," Head said. "It wasn't clear if it was OK to exit."
The national disaster agency reported early Sunday morning that five "visibly shaken" hostages had been released. It said "major operations underway." What that meant was a mystery.
Foreigners among casualties. Most of the casualties are Kenyan, authorities said. But the mall is popular with expatriates and foreign nationals, who were among those killed and injured.
That includes two dead French nationals and two Canadians, including a diplomat, their governments said. Several American citizens were among the wounded, including Elaine Dang, a University of California, Berkeley graduate. Dang worked as the general manager for Eat Out Kenya, which confirmed her injuries on its Twitter and Facebook pages. The State Department said Saturday there were several Americans among the injured, but none among the dead. Secretary of State John Kerry didn't offer details. Israel's Foreign Ministry said one national was slightly wounded and three escaped. A cafe at the mall is owned by an Israeli, but the ministry does not believe the mall was targeted because of that. A plea for blood. Several Kenyan agencies made a plea for blood donations.
"Hospitals are appealing for more blood, the response is incredible but more is needed," tweeted Francis Kimemia, secretary to the Cabinet.
And as the nationa grappled with the aftermath, Kenya's president blasted "the despicable perpetrators of this cowardly act," and said they will be brought to justice. 'We shall hunt down the perpetrators' Kenya is no stranger to terrorism. A 1998 bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi left 213 dead. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks. Since Kenya launched attacks against the Al-Shabaab in Somalia in 2011, the group has hurled grenade attacks at Kenyan churches, bus stops and other public places. In a televised speech late Saturday, Kenyatta said his nation has "overcome" such attacks before, refusing to budge from its values or relinquish his security. And it will do so again, he promised. "We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to," the president said. "We shall get them, and we shall punish them for this heinous crime." But first, authorities will have to get to all the assailants and hostages still inside the mall.
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