More than 24 hours after Qaida-linked attack || Israeli forces reportedly join effort to end deadly siege at Kenya mall
Conflicting reports emerge about exact role Israelis are playing; Kenya attack death toll rises to 59, as standoff with Al-Qaida-linked group continues; at least 30 hostages still behind held.
Israeli advisers are helping Kenya formulate a strategy to end a siege at a Nairobi shopping mall where Islamist militants have killed at least 59 people and are holding about 30 hostages, an Israeli security source said on Sunday.
“There are Israeli advisers helping with the negotiating strategy, but no Israelis involved in any imminent storming operation,” said the source, who declined to be identified.
The source said only a “handful” of Israelis, “purely in an advisory role,” were on scene at the upscale Westgate shopping center, which has several Israeli-owned outlets and is frequented by expatriates and Kenyans.
An Israeli source in Nairobi said all Israelis who were in the mall at the time of the attack had made it out safely, with the last three rescued overnight.
There were conflicting reports from other security sources in Nairobi about the part Israel was playing. One Kenyan security source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that the Israeli military was involved in the operation, while a private security official also said they were helping comb the mall. But the Kenyan Interior Minister insisted it was a national operation, despite offers of foreign support.
The attack by Al-Qaida-linked militants at the Nairobi also wounded 175, Kenya’s interior cabinet secretary said earlier Sunday. Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted over the course of the morning from inside the building where the hostage standoff with Islamic extremists continued nearly 24 hours after they attacked using grenades and assault rifles.
“The priority is to save as many lives as possible,” the cabinet secretary, Joseph Lenku said, reassuring the families of the hostages in the upscale Westgate mall. Kenyan forces have already rescued about 1,000 people, he said.
Lenku said that there are 10 to 15 attackers involved, and Kenyan forces have control of the security cameras inside the mall. Combined military and police forces surrounded the building. Police said the standoff was focused on the mall’s Nakumatt supermarket, one of Kenya’s biggest chains.
The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack. Several foreigners, including two French citizens, a Canadian civilian and diplomat and three Britons, were among the dead.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that Israelis were not the target of the attack.
Officials in the Foreign Ministry said three Israeli citizens that were in the mall at the time of the attack were able to escape unharmed and were collected by the Deputy Israeli Ambassador to Kenya Yaki Lopez and the embassy security officer that were present on the scene.
A senior official at the foreign ministry said that the families of the Israelis that escaped the incident were informed. The ministry said that beyond these persons it is believed that no other Israelis were present.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there were no Americans among the dead but that several U.S. citizens had been hurt and the wife of a U.S. diplomat working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was killed.
Al-Shabab, which has links to Al-Qaida and is battling Kenyan and other African peacekeepers in Somalia, had repeatedly threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Nairobi did not pull its troops out of the Horn of Africa country.
The group appeared to taunt the security forces, saying on its official Twitter handle aHSMiPress that there would be no negotiations whatsoever with Kenyan officials over the standoff.
“10 hours have passed and the Mujahideen are still strong inside iWestgate Mall and still holding their ground. All praise is due to Allah!,” the group said.
The raid presents Kenyatta with his first major security challenge since a March election victory. He has vowed to defeat the militants who have said it is time to shift the war to Kenyan soil.
“We have overcome terrorist attacks before,” he said.
Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized
WarSclerotic 
September 22, 2013 at 7:37 PM
We have noted the attack in Peshawar, by pakistani Taliban, on the christian church, actually the most severe attack against the christians in Pakistan; and we are also witnesses to the attack in Kenya by Al Qaeda surrogate, Al Shabaab. Kenya is christian in most of its part. So, one can see that the sunni islam is very active and initiating military operations – as they are see the situation – against states, civilians and military. The states and countries affected by this action in Kenya are more than a few, we actually counted ten on the World Map, while US, Britain and Canada are between them, to name just a few.
The problem is, Al Qaeda has a very precise strategy and targets.
The Rest of The World has no such a strategy and they don’t have precise goals. It sounds pretty bad to us, to tell the truth.
There is no strategy right now, on a global level, to combat Al Qaeda and its ”mother ships”.
September 22, 2013 at 9:25 PM
That’s right. Eventually they will have ICBMs that can hit America and that’s why many Americans are wrong when they see Iran as a thread only for Israel.
Good news for Israel today.
The most pro-Israel, pro-America party by German standards, Frau Merkel’s CDU has won today the national elections.
September 22, 2013 at 9:35 PM
There is more to this story than we are being told. I am hearing that several of the terrorists are UK and US citizens. Including a widow of a July 7th 2005 London bomber.