AT LEAST 69 people are confirmed to have been killed and 63 more recorded missing in the ongoing Nairobi shopping mall siege, the Kenya Red Cross said yesterday.
The 63 recorded missing are thought to include both hostages still being held by Islamist militants fighting Kenyan troops inside the complex, as well as those possibly killed in the three-day-long siege.
Others may be hiding in the sprawling centre.
As the stand-off entered its third day, sustained bursts of rapid gunfire erupted at dawn and lasted 15 minutes, and soldiers posted around the mall ducked for cover.
Somali al Shabaab militants yesterday threatened to kill hostages they are holding as Kenyan troops moved to end their siege.
Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said in a security update yestereday “a few” hostages remain in the mall, but could not give precise figures.
The al Shabaab have not said how many people were being held by the dozen-or-so attackers, who marched into the four-storey building at midday on Saturday, spraying shoppers with machine gun fire and tossing grenades.
“We authorise the mujahedeen inside the building to take actions against the prisoners as much as they are pressed,” al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement posted on an Islamist website.
Another indication no hostages had been freed: none appeared at the Oshwal Centre, a squat concrete structure that houses a Hindu temple just next to the mall that the Red Cross is using.
Medical workers attended to at least two wounded Kenyan soldiers there yesterday.
Officials never said how many hostages had been rescued, and Kenya’s military spokesman yesterday was still not able to provide clear details.
“We are yet to get confirmation from what’s happening in the building,” Colonel Cyrus Oguna said.
As the crisis neared the 48-hour mark, video taken by someone inside the mall’s main department store when the assault began emerged.
The video showed frightened and unsure shoppers crouching as long and loud volleys of gunfire could be heard.
The assault by Kenyan forces came about 30 hours after extremists stormed the mall on Saturday from two sides, throwing grenades and firing on civilians.
Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked rebel group, al Shabaab, said the attack, targeting non-Muslims, was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighbouring Somalia. — Sapa-AP-AFP
Nairobi mall siege drags on as death toll mounts
The 63 recorded missing are thought to include both hostages still being held by Islamist militants fighting Kenyan troops inside the complex, as well as those possibly killed in the three-day-long siege.
Others may be hiding in the sprawling centre.
As the stand-off entered its third day, sustained bursts of rapid gunfire erupted at dawn and lasted 15 minutes, and soldiers posted around the mall ducked for cover.
Somali al Shabaab militants yesterday threatened to kill hostages they are holding as Kenyan troops moved to end their siege.
Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said in a security update yestereday “a few” hostages remain in the mall, but could not give precise figures.
The al Shabaab have not said how many people were being held by the dozen-or-so attackers, who marched into the four-storey building at midday on Saturday, spraying shoppers with machine gun fire and tossing grenades.
“We authorise the mujahedeen inside the building to take actions against the prisoners as much as they are pressed,” al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement posted on an Islamist website.
Another indication no hostages had been freed: none appeared at the Oshwal Centre, a squat concrete structure that houses a Hindu temple just next to the mall that the Red Cross is using.
Medical workers attended to at least two wounded Kenyan soldiers there yesterday.
Officials never said how many hostages had been rescued, and Kenya’s military spokesman yesterday was still not able to provide clear details.
“We are yet to get confirmation from what’s happening in the building,” Colonel Cyrus Oguna said.
As the crisis neared the 48-hour mark, video taken by someone inside the mall’s main department store when the assault began emerged.
The video showed frightened and unsure shoppers crouching as long and loud volleys of gunfire could be heard.
The assault by Kenyan forces came about 30 hours after extremists stormed the mall on Saturday from two sides, throwing grenades and firing on civilians.
Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked rebel group, al Shabaab, said the attack, targeting non-Muslims, was in retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighbouring Somalia. — Sapa-AP-AFP
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