Kenya's interior minister said
gunmen holed up inside a Nairobi shopping mall had caused a plume of smoke by
setting mattresses alight in a supermarket as a decoy, and said two of the
"terrorists" had been killed on Monday.
"We don't want to give you a
definitive position on when we think the process will come to an end, but we
are doing anything reasonably possible, cautiously though, to bring this
process to an end," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku told a news
conference.
The minister also said all the militants
were men, although some had dressed as women, possibly explaining witness
accounts that some of those who launched the assault on Saturday were women.
In turn, a senior Kenyan security
official said that gunmen involved in an attack on a Nairobi shopping mall came
from several countries, without revealing what those nations were.
"We have an idea who they are, their
nationality and even the number," said Julius Karangi, Kenya's chief of
general staff, adding that militants were "clearly a multinational
collection from all over the world."
Four large blasts rocked Kenya's Westgate Mall on
Monday, sending large plumes of smoke over an upscale suburb as Kenyan military
forces sought to rescue an unknown number of hostages held by al-Qaeda-linked
militants.
The explosions were followed by volleys of
gunfire, then a thick, dark column of smoke. Military and police helicopters
and one plane circled over the Nairobi mall, giving the upscale Westlands
neighborhood the feel of a war zone.
Security forces' efforts the previous day to
rescue the unknown number of hostages inside failed despite the military
announcing that "most" hostages had been saved. Kenyan officials have
said preserving the hostages' lives is a top priority, greatly complicating the
rescue effort.
Kenyans and foreigners were among those
confirmed dead, including British, French, Canadians, Indians, a Ghanaian, a
South African and a Chinese woman. The UK Foreign Office said Monday it has
confirmed the deaths of four British nationals.
From neighboring Somalia, spokesman Sheik Ali
Mohamud Rage for al-Shabab the militant group that claimed responsibility
for the attack said in an audio file posted on a website that the hostage
takers had been ordered to "take punitive action against the
hostages" if force was used to try to rescue them.
Kenya's Red Cross said the death toll rose to 68
after nine bodies were recovered Sunday. More than 175 people were injured,
including many children, Kenyan officials said.
Al-Shabab said the attack, targeting
non-Muslims, was in retribution for Kenyan forces' 2011 push into neighboring
Somalia.
Reactions:
U.S. officials are closely
watching efforts by Somalia's Al Shabaab group to recruit in the United States,
but have no direct information that Americans were involved in the attack on a
Nairobi shopping mall, a U.S. officials said on Monday.
"All we've seen are the same reports
coming out of Al Shabaab ... but we have to run those to ground," White
House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters, when asked
whether any Americans took part in the assault.
"We do monitor very carefully and have
for some time been concerned about, efforts by Al Shabaab to recruit Americans
or U.S. persons to come to Somalia," Rhodes told reporters traveling with
the president to the United Nations.
"So this is an issue that has been
tracked very closely by the U.S. government and it's one that we'll be looking
into in the days ahead," he added.
REUTERS/AP
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