Westgate mall

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'There Was No Time to Count the Dead' in Nairobi Attack

Al-Shabab claims responsibility for attack on luxury hotel

(Newser) - Extremists launched a deadly attack on a luxury hotel in Kenya's capital Tuesday, sending people fleeing in panic as explosions and heavy gunfire reverberated through the complex. A witness said he saw five bodies at the hotel entrance alone. Al-Shabab—the Somalia-based Islamic extremist group that carried out...

Pentagon: Strike Killed Mall Attack Mastermind

Death deals 'major blow' to al-Shabab

(Newser) - The Pentagon has confirmed that a US airstrike last week killed Adan Garar, a senior member of the al-Shabab extremist group who allegedly helped plan the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 67 people. The Pentagon, calling Garar "a major threat" and saying his death dealt...

US Responds to Kenya Mall Attack, Raids Leader's House

Navy SEALs raid stronghold of al-Shabab leader in Somalia

(Newser) - A team of Navy SEALs raided the house of a senior al-Shabab leader in Somalia today—a response to the group's deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall last month , according to US officials. Initial reports claimed the leader had been captured, but an official now says that he...

Nairobi Mall Victims Brutally Tortured: Reports

Doctors, investigators offer gruesome accounts

(Newser) - The al-Shabab militants who attacked a mall in Nairobi last weekend didn't just kill their victims, they tortured them and mutilated their bodies, according to accounts in Kenya's media rounded up by USA Today . It makes for rough reading. The stories quote doctors and investigators who describe gouged...

Kenya Mall Attack Rehearsed, 'Meticulously Planned'

Plus: Gunshots still ringing out

(Newser) - Some of the terrorists who attacked Kenya's Westgate Mall are said to have used G3 assault rifles, cumbersome guns carried by Kenyan security officers, and "you don't bring something like a crew-served weapon through the door," an American official tells the New York Times . "Those...

Kenya President: It's Over, Mall Collapsed

5 terrorists, 6 soldiers, and 61 civilians killed

(Newser) - The siege of the Westgate Mall is over, Kenya's president announced today, after a dramatic final sweep that ended with three floors of the building collapsing. In a televised address, Uhuru Kenyatta said that 11 suspected terrorists had been arrested, and five others killed, NBC News reports. He put...

Kenyan Blogger Makes Name Covering Mall Attack

Robert Alai using Twitter, Facebook, network of sources

(Newser) - At one point during the Nairobi mall standoff , Kenya's information ministry informed the public that a fire at the mall had been extinguished. Just one problem with that, pointed out Kenyan blogger Robert Alai in a tweet : The fire was still blazing away on live TV. "Interior Ministry...

Kenya: Americans, Woman Among Mall Attackers

Military still trying to clear building

(Newser) - Is the siege of Nairobi's Westgate Mall finally near an end? Kenyan authorities say they believe all the hostages have been released, but journalists from the AP and Reuters heard yet more gunfire and explosions as the Kenyan military moved through the building. Officials say the military is going...

2 Militants Dead as Kenya Forces Storm Mall

'We are in charge of the situation, our people are safe,' says interior minister

(Newser) - Kenyan security forces are claiming control of a Nairobi shopping mall in the midst of a new assault aimed at ending the three-day-old siege, reports the BBC , with large explosions and gunfire heard in the area as smoke billows from the Westgate Mall. "We are in charge of the...

Kenya: 'Most' Hostages Freed in Mall Siege

But some militants still holed up inside

(Newser) - At daybreak today, terrorists still appeared to be in control of part of a shopping mall in Nairobi despite a major Kenyan military offensive overnight. The military says the assault freed most of the remaining hostages after a two-day standoff that left at least 68 people dead, but Reuters journalists...

Kenya Launches 'Major' Assault on Mall, Death Toll Hits 68

Security forces plan to end standoff tonight

(Newser) - The death toll in the deadly attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall has risen to 68, according to the Red Cross, after the bodies of nine hostages were recovered today. Red Cross volunteers believe there are more bodies still inside the mall, but they're not reachable at the moment,...

Toll Hits 59 in Kenya Mall Attack

Al-Shabab militants still holed up in Westgate Mall

(Newser) - The attack by al-Qaeda-linked militants al-Shabab yesterday at an upscale mall in Nairobi has now killed at least 59 people and wounded 175, Kenya's interior secretary said today. Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted this morning from inside the building where there is a hostage standoff with Islamic extremists nearly...

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