Kenya’s Interior Ministry: We’re in Control of Westgate

The Interior Ministry of Kenya has announced that government troops are ‘in control’ of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, with all the hostages believed to have been freed after a deadly siege that killed at least 62 people.

Government spokesman told news agencies that the three-day-long siege was close to being declared over. He adds special forces combing the building were no longer encountering any resistance, Al Jazeera.net reported.

“Our special forces are inside the building checking the rooms. We think that everyone, the hostages, have been evacuated, but we don’t want to take any chances,” Manoah Esipisu, a government spokesman, said.

“We’re in control of Westgate,” the interior ministry said in a message on Twitter.

Reports said Somali armed group, al-Shabab, has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack that has also left almost 200 wounded. But in an exclusive interview on Monday, Kenya’s Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed told Al Jazeera that al-Qaeda was responsible for the attack.

“Al-Shabab was not acting alone and that it was part of an international terrorism campaign”, Mohamed said.

She adds that about 20 gunmen and women were behind the attack, and that both the victims and perpetrators came from a variety of nationalities, Al Jazeera.net reported.

In a speech on Monday, the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, described Shabab as a threat to the world. “They are a threat to the continent of Africa, and the world at large,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, explosions and heavy gunfire were reported and also fires broke out as soldiers stormed the mall where suspected al-Shabaab fighters were believed to be holed up.

The siege began midday on Saturday, when the gunmen marched into the complex, firing grenades and automatic weapons and sending panicked shoppers fleeing.

Authorities said at least 11 Kenyan troops were wounded in intense gun battles on Monday while Police had arrested more than 10 people for questioning.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose nephew was killed along with his fiancee, has called the attack “despicable and beastly”.

Al-Shabab said the carnage was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.

“If you want Kenya in peace, it will not happen as long as your boys are in our lands,” rebel spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement posted online.

Shocked witnesses said the gunmen tried to weed out non-Muslims for execution by interrogating people on their religion or asking them to recite the Muslim profession of faith, Al Jazeera.net said.

The casualties include six Britons, two French women, two Canadians including a diplomat, a Chinese woman, two Indians, a South Korean, a South African and a Dutch woman, according to their governments.

Also killed was Ghanaian poet and former UN envoy Kofi Awoonor, 78, while his son was injured.

World powers condemned the chilling attack, the worst in Nairobi since an al-Qaeda bombing at the US embassy killed more than 200 people in 1998, Al Jazeera.net said.

Al-Shabab and al-Qaeda announced their alliance in in February last year, and Abu Omar, a Somali-a-based al-Shabab commander, confirmed in an interview with Al Jazeera that his group is taking orders from al-Qaeda, AlJazeera.net reported.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama called Kenyatta offering “whatever law enforcement support that is necessary”, calling the attack a “terrible outrage,” while UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the violence was “totally reprehensible”.

Source: Al Jazeera.net