Attackers defeated in mall siege, Kenya's president says
Source: CNN
Three floors of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi collapsed during efforts to clear terrorists who had laid siege to the building for four days, trapping bodies inside, President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address Tuesday.
Five of the gunmen were killed in the fighting, Kenyatta said. Eleven other people had been arrested over possible connections to the attack, which left 61 civilians and six security officers dead, 62 people in the hospital and Kenya's reputation as a bulwark of African stability in tatters.
"We have ashamed and defeated our attackers," he said in the address, which capped a four-day ordeal in which Kenyan forces battled Al-Shabaab terrorists for control of the upscale mall.
Earlier in the day, sporadic gunfire could be heard coming from the mall as authorities made their final sweeps through the building.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/24/world/africa/kenya-mall-attack/index.html
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Must be related to that explosion yesterday that the police set off..
seems a bit extreme to blow up a mall in order to get attackers, and I wonder how many hostages were killed along with them.
Lasher
(27,629 posts)Somebody here said they thought that weaponry seemed overkill for a hostage situation like this. I guess that's a good point but I don't know enough specifics to judge.
Renew Deal
(81,869 posts)Turborama
(22,109 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)"Security officials at the scene said the explosions had been caused by Kenyan forces who set off blasts to get in through the roof."
http://news.sky.com/story/1145375/kenya-siege-gunmen-running-and-hiding
came thru first on Brealing News site, then linked story, above.
Situation was confusing, admittedly.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)It sounds like they rounded up 10 people that may be linked to the attack, including three at the airport.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Al Shabab just struck spectacularly in his capital because of Kenya's intervention against them. That's a huge bloody nose for Kenya and Kenyatta.
And I don't know how you "defeat and shame" attackers bent on martyrdom.
Prometheus Perez
(23 posts)Death penalty for them.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,362 posts)even though the death penalty is not a solution to anything.
But, it makes the powers-that-be appear to be "doing something".
Al Shabab won this round. Their mission was to go in, kill people, and die. Mission accomplished.