A few weeks ago, a group of terrorists took siege of Nariobi’s Westgate Mall and carried out a devastating attack which lasted for four days. This resulted in many casualties. According to one eyewitness, four men started firing bullets at random cars near the entrance of the mall while another vehicle with another group of terrorists proceeded through a barrier in front of the mall, where security guards were stationed. The terrorists then drove their car to the basement car parking area and set up a “command and control center” there. Meanwhile the men who gained entry inside the mall began to shoot indiscriminately at helpless consumers.
They also began firing and throwing grenades at customers, causing panic and chaos. The people in the building tried to sneak away and hide from the gunmen as fast as they could. The gunmen slowly made their way up on to the second floor, again shooting people they saw running away from them. Apparently, the gunmen also tried to communicate with victims before they were shot to death. They tried to separate Muslims from Non-Muslims; the Muslims were allowed to leave the mall unharmed. Joshua Hakim, a victim, remembered a man calling out,” Muslims, get out of here!” He went up to a terrorist and showed him his identification card. Hakim was just about to leave when he saw an older man of Indian heritage being approached by another terrorist. The gunman asked the man to name the mother of the prophet. The old man hesitated and was shot to death for not knowing a fact that would determine whether or not a person was of a certain religion.
According to other reports, a number of people were taken as hostages and held in a cinema and a casino on the second floor in the mall. Some were also kept in the basement area. The initial death toll was stated to be 39.
The next day, gunfire continued to be heard throughout the mall and ten to fifteen attackers were still unaccounted for. Police forces began their rescue operation and soldiers started to surround the mall. About 1,000 people were saved but the death toll rose to 59.
Meanwhile, information was beginning to leak out on the identities of the attackers. The gunmen were Americans, British, and Canadians. They all were part of Al-Shabaab, an Islamic extremist group.
On the third day, three attackers had been killed and 200 civilians had been rescued. Although 11 Kenyan soldiers had been hurt during the operation, the officials were determined to see the end of this terrible nightmare saying, “The terrorists have little chance of escape,” and “We’re not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them.”
But the terrorists weren’t about to give up….instead, they set the mall on fire.
By the fourth day, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that security forces had killed all of the terrorists and 11 people had been arrested for having a connection with the attack. “We have ashamed of, and we defeated our attackers,” he said. The death toll hit its acme of 65 victims.
Although the majority of the victims were Kenyans, six British, two French, two Indians, and two Canadians had died in the massacre. The mall also sustained a lot of damage as three floors of the mall collapsed during the security forces rescue operation.
But Kenya has come out strong after this horrific ordeal. As Kenya’s president sums it up, “Our attackers wish to destroy the essential character of our society. They failed. Kenya endures.”
