They threw grenades like maize to chickens-kenya shootings

Islamic militant group al-Shabaab says
Kenyan government continued to
'massacre innocent Muslims in Somalia'
despite warnings
Saturday 21 September 2013 11.20
EDT
Staff and agencies
At least 25 people have been killed in a
suspected terrorist attack in the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi, after gunmen opened
fire and threw grenades in an upmarket
shopping centre.
On Saturday evening the Kenyan
presidency tweeted that one of the
gunmen had been arrested. The
country's head of police, David Kimaiyo,
said several assailants were also
apprehended when police and military
entered the mall following the attack.
Witnesses said the men, brandishing
AK-47s, told Muslims to leave and shot
those they believed were non-Muslims.
"We are treating this as a terrorist
attack," said the police chief Benson
Kibue, adding that 10 attackers were
involved. Police did not say which
group was responsible.
A wounded woman is helped to safety
after gunmen opened fire in a shopping
centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph:
Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images
"It is a possibility that it is an attack by
terrorists, so we are treating the matter
very seriously," Mutea Iringo, the
principal secretary in the ministry of
interior, told Reuters.
The al-Qaida linked Somali Islamist
militant group al-Shabaab has not
formally claimed responsibility for the
attack, but used it's official Twitter
handle, @HSM-Press , to describe the
killings as "a very tiny fraction of what
Muslims in Somalia experience at the
hands of Kenyan invaders".
The group also accused the Kenyan
government of continuing to "massacre
innocent Muslims in Somalia", a
reference to Kenyan troops being sent
into Somalia in 2011 in order to fight al-
Shabaab.
The ministry earlier posted warnings to
the public on Twitter to avoid the area
around the Westgate centre, the most
exclusive shopping centre in the city.
Elijah Kamau told the Associated Press
the gunmen had made the statement
about Muslims as they began their
attack.
A Kenyan woman is carried away from
the shopping centre. Photograph: Simon
Maina/AFP/Getty Images
The interior ministry asked local media
not to televise the gun battle live
because the gunmen were watching the
screens in the shopping centre.
Armed police arrived nearly half an
hour after the attack began and
engaged the gunmen in a shootout.
Officers shouted: "Get out, get out", and
scores of shoppers fled the building. At
least half a dozen were bloodied and
helped by first-aiders.
Security guards used shopping trollies
to wheel out several wounded children
and at least one man.
Rob Vandijk, who works at the Dutch
embassy, said he was eating at a
restaurant in the shopping centre when
attackers lobbed grenades inside the
building. He said gunfire then burst
out and people screamed as they
dropped to the ground.
A former British soldier said: "I
personally touched the eyes of four
people and they were dead. One of
them was a child. It's carnage up there."
Cars were left abandoned outside the
centre, which is located in the city's
affluent Westlands area and is
frequented by expatriates and wealthy
Kenyans.
Other witnesses said that they had seen
about five armed assailants storm the
shopping centre and that the incident
appeared to be an attack rather than an
armed robbery.
"They don't seem like thugs. This is not
a robbery incident," Yukeh Mannasseh
told Reuters. "It seems like an attack.
The guards who saw them said they
were shooting indiscriminately."
Kenya has seen a rise in terrorist
attacks and threats in recent years,
some of which are believed to be in
retaliation for a military crackdown on
al-Shabaab. The group vowed in 2011 to
carry out a large-scale attack in Nairobi
in retaliation for Kenya sending troops
into Somalia to fight them.
The attacks often involve gunmen
armed with automatic weapons and
grenades, and their targets include
bars, nightclubs and restaurants in
various parts of the country. A
suspected al-Shabaab attack in January
left five people dead and three injured
at a restaurant in the eastern city of
Garissa. In August last year one person
was killed and six injured in the
Eastleigh area of Nairobi on the eve of
a visit by Hillary Clinton, the then US
secretary of state.
Last month 18 of the 19 US embassies
and consulates across the Middle East
and Africa were closed after a message
between al-Qaida officials about plans
for a major terrorist attack was
intercepted.
More on this story
21 Sep 2013
Kenyan mall shooting: 'They threw
grenades like maize to chickens'
Nairobi's most upmarket retail centre
became a scene of carnage as terrorists
armed with AK-47s and grenades
singled out victims
21 Sep 2013
Al-Shabaab: the rise of a youth-led
Islamist movement
Fighters from Somali's al-Shabaab have
continually surprised observers, who
predicted their downfall early on
21 Sep 2013
Dozens die as Islamic militants attack
Kenyan shopping mall
Somalia's al-Shabaab group claims
responsibility for attack in Nairobi in
which non-Muslims were targeted
21 Sep 2013
British nationals caught up in 'callous'
Kenyan mall attack, says Hague
Hannah Chisholm, a Briton visiting
Nairobi, escaped the gunmen by
barricading herself in storeroom with
60 others
21 Sep 2013
Nairobi mall attackers could not have
picked a better target
The city is the commercial hub of east
and central Africa, writes Kenyan
journalist Murithi Mutiga
21 Sep 2013
Kenya mall attack: Somalia's al-
Shabaab group claims responsibility