Gunfire at besieged Kenyan mall, Islamists threaten hostages [View all]

[dipsydoodle]

from 2 hours ago : NAIROBI | Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:22am BST

(Reuters) - Gunfire and explosions sounded on Monday from the Nairobi mall where militants from Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group threatened to kill hostages on the third day of a raid in which at least 68 have already died.

Reuters journalists near the upmarket Westgate complex heard sporadic shots and also heavy bursts of rifle fire and muffled blasts on at least two occasions after daybreak. Kenyan troops moved around outside the building. A Kenyan Red Cross official, Abbas Guled, said there had been clashes inside the building.

But there was no indication of the fate of people whom the authorities had said on Sunday were being held by 10 to 15 gunmen - and possibly women - inside a large supermarket.

An al Shabaab spokesman warned that the Islamists would kill hostages if Kenyan security forces, who are being assisted by Western and Israeli experts, tried to storm their position:

"Israelis and Kenyan forces have tried to enter Westgate by force but they could not," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in an audio statement posted online. "The mujahideen will kill the hostages if the enemies use force.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/23/uk-kenya-attack-idUKBRE98K03T20130923

See also :

Kenya: 'White Widow' Briton Linked To Attack.

The Foreign Office is investigating claims that a female British terror suspect known as the White Widow could be linked to the shopping centre massacre in Kenya.

A white woman wearing a veil was reportedly spotted shouting orders to gunmen in Arabic during the attack on the Westgate complex in Nairobi.

Some reports have suggested that it is Samantha Lewthwaite, the English widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay.

She is wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell.

In March 2012 it was reported that Lewthwaite, 29, who is originally from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had fled across the border from Kenya to Somalia.

http://news.sky.com/story/1145286/kenya-white-widow-briton-linked-to-attack