NAIROBI, Kenya On Saturday, September 21, 15 to 20 Al-Shabaab jihadists, concealed in scarves and armed with AK-47s, G-3 assault rifles, and grenades, stormed into the upscale Westgate Shopping Mall. The unexpected rampage began while the mall was bustling with families and foreigners anticipating another normal day, and the assailants persisted until September 24th. The shopping center was completely consumed with chaos and fear as “parents hurled their bodies over their children, people jumped into ventilation shafts to save themselves, and shoppers huddled behind plastic mannequins of designer clothing stores.”
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The terrorists scattered themselves throughout the mall, throwing grenades into stores. Survivors say that the gunmen rounded people up and asked them questions that only Muslims could have known. If they answered correctly, they were allowed to leave the mall; still, 12 Muslims in the mall attack have been confirmed dead. Among the 12 Muslims, 69 others were pronounced dead and 240 wounded. This is said to be the deadliest attack in Kenya since 1998 when al- Quaeda bombed the US embassy.
Prior to the attack, the gunmen cleverly rented out a store in the mall in order to gain detailed knowledge of the mall’s complex floor plan and to gather their weapons in advance. Reports of booby traps also signaled extensive planning and research of the shopping center that could have only been done from inside the mall.
Upset by the Kenyan presence in Somalia that drove them out of their territory, the Al-Shabab jihadists staged the attack as an act of revenge on Kenyans but also targeted foreigners and tourists.
After “four days of bloody mayhem,” the Kenyan police force and army finally defeated the terrorists when they landed on the rooftop of the mall with a helicopter, gaining control of the area. 11 of the attackers are in custody and three are said to be U.S. citizens.
Even though the siege has ended, one mystery remains: were women involved in the execution of the attack? Some witnesses reported seeing two women heavily armed. One of the suspected women has been identified as Samantha Lewthwaite, an Irish Muslim convert who has soared through the ranks of extremist groups.
People worry that the tragedy at Westgate shopping mall is just one of many more violent attacks of the same nature to come. Rudy Atallah, the former director of counter terrorism working for the Pentagon, said, “An attack like this gives them the capability to recruit, it shows off their abilities, and it demonstrates to al Qaeda central that they are not dead.”
Below is an interesting survivor story to consider:
Elliot Prior, a British four-year-old yelled at a jihadist gunman, “You’re a bad man. Let us leave,” after seeing his mother get shot in the leg. The stunned gunman, before letting the boy’s family out, gave the boy a chocolate bar and said, “Please forgive me, we’re not monsters.”