‘Five of the Kenyan mall massacre gunmen are American’

From The Daily Mail

Special forces storm in to free ‘most’ hostages following two-day stand-off with Muslim terrorists that has left 68 dead and wounded 175 more

• Kenyan security forces are reported to have taken control of most of the mall over 36 hours after they launched attack
• ‘This will end tonight. Our forces will prevail. Kenyans are standing firm against aggression, and we will win,’ Kenya’s Disaster Operations Center tweeted on Sunday
• However, the military operation to rescue the hostages and apprehend the terrorists is still ongoing
  
• As many as five of the alleged attackers are believed to be from the United States
  
• Canadian diplomat Annemarie Desloges, 29, and pregnant Kenyan radio journalist Ruhila Adatia among the dead
• Somalian terrorist group al Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack which they live-blogged on Twitter
  
• Terrorist organization released a statement saying it warned Kenya to remove troops from Somalia
  
• The upscale mall is a favorite shopping spot for Western expat and wealthy Kenyan families
  
• Witness says attackers told shoppers non-Muslims were the targets; estimated 30 hostages remain in the mall
  
• So far at least 68 people have been reported to have died and 175 people injured
  

By Louise Boyle, Ellie Buchdahl, Stuart Woledge and Ryan Gorman

PUBLISHED: 18:58 EST, 21 September 2013 | UPDATED: 20:39 EST, 22 September 2013

The FBI is investigating claims that up to five of the terrorists who killed 68 people in a despicable attack on an upmarket Kenyan shopping mall are Americans, as the Kenyan military reported that it had rescued hostages and secured ‘most parts’ of the center following the two day standoff.

Sources close to terror group Al Shabaab told CNN on Sunday that nine extremists had been named on their Twitter account along with their nationalities and allegedly included U.S. citizens. The account has now been suspended by the site.

And just before sundown Kenya Defence Forces posted on its Twitter account that ‘most of the hostages hostages have been rescued’ and that security forces had taken control of ‘most parts of the building’ – however, the operation is still continuing and only a small number remained under the control of the militants.

The dramatic assault, which began shortly before sundown, came as two helicopters circled the Westgate mall, with one skimming very close to the roof.

They added that four military personnel were injured in the operation and officials attached to the defense forces did not elaborate how the hostages were freed or if the extremists were in custody.

Some gunmen are reported to be currently holed up in a supermarket in the shopping mall complex.

The revelation that Americans could be involved in the terror atrocity came after a large explosion today rocked the upmarket mall where as many as 15 Islamic extremists had been holding the hostages a day after attacking it, killing at least 68 and injuring at least 175 people – including five Americans.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE COVERAGE

Kenyan paramilitary officers walk towards a small shopping arcade adjacent to the Westgate shopping mall where the hostage situation continues in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday

Rescue mission: An image from AFP TV shows military forces taking position inside the shopping mall

         

Kenyan police officers take cover to prepare for the incoming fire at the Oshwal Centre adjacent to the Westgate shopping mall where the hostage situation continues in Nairobi, Kenya, in the early hours of 23 September 2013

         

Assault: A Large number of troops from the kenya defence force arrived to strengthen the already formidable numbers of troops available as a Kenyan army helicopter flies low near the Westgate mall in Nairobi on Sunday

Tense: Kenyan paramilitary officers walk towards a small shopping arcade adjacent to the Westgate shopping mall where the hostage situation continues

Armed response: Kenyan troops with machine guns take up position in the mall

Fleeing to safety: A soldier directs people up stairs inside the Westgate shopping mall after a shootout in Nairobi, Kenya

Laying siege: Armed police crouch down and take position during a gun battle with Islamic terrorists at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday

 

Lock-down: Kenya security personnel walk to their positions outside the shopping mall as the siege continues

The Kenyan military stormed the four-story mall and there have been sporadic gun battles with extremists. Kenyan troops were seen carrying in at least two rocket-propelled grenades – and, earlier, military helicopters hovered over the mall.

It came after the wife of a U.S. embassy worker was identified as one of the dead. Four Americans are among the 175 wounded in the attack by al Qaeda-linked extremists, who opened fire in the mall after reportedly allowing Muslims to flee.

Reuters had earlier reported that Secretary of State John Kerry said the wife of a U.S. diplomat working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was killed. However the State Department said that it was in fact the wife of a national working for the U.S. embassy in Nairobi.

There are currently no reports of American casualties.

According to NBC News, the FBI is actively investigating whether as many as five Americans were part of the terror cell which launched the deadly mall attack.

However, sources close to the investigation have cautioned that authorities have not confirmed this and at present do not know for sure who is involved and their nationalities.

The suggestion that Americans were involved in the deadly terror attack originated from the Twitter feed claiming to belong to the Somali al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab, which is claiming responsibility for the outrage.

That account lists specific names and the homes states of the alleged American terrorists – of which two are purportedly from the St. Paul-Minneapolis area in Minnesota and another from Kansas City in Missouri.

St. Paul-Minneapolis has the largest Somali population outside of Mogadishu, with some 85,700 members.

It is thought that the FBI will have already acted on the information available to them and will have acertained whether the individuals are in the country or have traveled abroad.

Kenya’s Red Cross said that 49 people were reported missing. Officials did not make an explicit link but that number could form the basis of the number of people held captive.

The Red Cross added on Sunday that the death toll had risen from 59 to 68 after nine more bodies were recovered in a joint rescue mission.

Kenyan police said on Twitter on Sunday that a ‘MAJOR’ assault by security forces had started to end the two-day siege.

‘This will end tonight. Our forces will prevail. Kenyans are standing firm against aggression, and we will win,’ Kenya’s Disaster Operations Center tweeted.

The assault came about 36 hours after up to 15 al Shabaab extremists stormed the mall from two sides, throwing grenades and firing on civilians.

Kenya’s interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the military had identified the attackers’ locations but that the operation is very ‘delicate’.

 
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428614/Five-Kenyan-mall-massacre-gunmen-American-Special-forces-storm-free-hostages-following-day-stand-Muslim-terrorists-left-68-dead-wounded-175-more.html