The death toll from an attack by Islamist militants on a Nairobi shopping mall reached 68 late yesterday, after nine more bodies were brought out from the building, Kenya’s Red Cross said on its Twitter feed.
Islamist militants were still holding hostages yesterday at the shopping mall in Nairobi, in an attack by the Somali al Shabaab group, which demanded Kenya pull troops back across the border.
Brief volleys of gunfire and a blast interrupted hours of stalemate. A Reuters correspondent saw security personnel on the move and, as dusk closed in, two helicopters swooped low over the Westgate shopping centre, which has several Israeli-owned outlets and is frequented by prosperous Kenyans and foreigners.
Mobile phone signals began to fail in the area as darkness fell.
Kenya’s President, vowing to stand firm against Somali militants, was cautious about the outcome, saying chances of the siege ending well were “as good ... as we can hope for”.
“We will punish the masterminds swiftly and painfully,” he added, saying 59 people had been killed and more than 175 taken to hospitals. Previous such raids, in Russia, the 2008 Mumbai attacks or January’s al-Qaeda assault on an Algerian gas plant, have generally ended only with many hostages losing their lives.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, confirming three Britons were dead, said: “We should prepare ourselves for further bad news.”
US President Barack Obama called Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday to express condolences over what the White House called a “terrorist attack” by al Shabaab, and offered support to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Other foreigners, including a French mother and daughter and two diplomats from Canada and Ghana, were killed in Saturday’s attack.
Shortly after the shots were fired, troops in camouflage ran crouching below a restaurant terrace along the front of the building that had been buzzing with customers when assailants charged in.
For hours after the brazen attack, the dead were strewn around tables of unfinished meals. At one burger restaurant, a man and woman lay in a final embrace, before their bodies were removed.