67 dead in Kenya Mall Massacre; Americans among 175 wounded

[Admiral Yi]

Less chance of me getting offed.  Duh.

[jimmy olsen]

Now that's luck.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/24/20680008-they-werent-asking-any-questions-they-were-just-shooting-american-survivor-recounts-kenyan-siege-horror?lite

'They weren't asking any questions, they were just shooting': American survivor recounts Kenyan siege horror

By Tom Costello and Becky Bratu, NBC News

A chance table change during lunch may have led to an American woman surviving the horrific siege at a Kenyan mall over the weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, Bendita Malakia, a Harvard-trained lawyer with the World Bank, was at the upscale Westgate shopping center in Nairobi to meet a colleague for lunch.

But, before the carnage began, the two friends decided to switch tables because they didn't like the one they were at.

When they sat down at the second table, "we had a drink, and we're chatting, and then all of a sudden there's this explosion," Malakia told NBC News after arriving in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

"The gentleman who had taken my [old] seat must have gotten shot immediately because he was basically on the floor, on the ground, like dead right next to the chair that I was sitting in," said Malakia.

People around them then began crawling, attempting to escape, but a second explosion rocked the scene just moments after the first one.

The heavily-armed militants from the Somalia-based al Shabaab staged a shooting massacre that killed some 61 civilians and 6 security officers and shattered countless lives. As the assault developed, the terrorists began letting Muslims go and only targeting people of other faiths.

"When they first came in, they were just shooting. They weren't asking any questions, they were just shooting," Malakia said. "Later, they tried to differentiate on religion, but at first they were just shooting."

Crawling away from the gunfire, Malakia and her friend made it to an employee break room in a nearby store, where they waited with about 15 other people — but still able to hear what was happening in other parts of the luxury shopping complex.

"People are screaming, you hear lots of running, gunshots, explosions, and there's all sorts of things," she said. "Some of the older women especially are hyperventilating, it's just kind of, it's complete chaos, it's mostly gunshots and screaming and running at that point."

Malakia said she could hear the gunmen's voices and occasionally people asking them not to shoot. Using someone else's phone, she sent a text message to her father, asking him to pray for her.

"It was terrifying, we all had a very real sense that we were going to die," Malakia said.

She and the others with her survived by hiding for five hours in the back room of the store until what she called an "American security team" showed up to rescue them.

Malakia said the group was told: "'If you guys want to get out, we understand it's dangerous but this is probably your best shot. If you don't get out now you may not get out.'"

So, they all made a beeline for the exit and ran out of the mall — where she said two grenades thrown about 30 feet away caused her to emotionally break down, even as she had finally escaped.

Kenya's president Tuesday said security forces have killed five terrorists and arrested 11 suspects in connection with the attack, bringing to a close four days of chaos and carnage.

Malakia said she doesn't yet know whether she'll ever return to Kenya, but for now, she said she is still trying to process the events she's been through -- and spend time with her family, who said they were scared to death of losing her.

"She was my lucky number seven -- that's what I always call her -- my lucky number seven, after four still borns and two miscarriages," Lue Malakia, her mother, said.

"I'm scared to death that I'm going to lose her."

[Viking]

Hey, if they are going to do these things, it's better they do in another country.

Why?

Yeah, why? In the USA they'd have the NRA on their side.

[mongers]

Chanel Four news here says it has confirmed reports that the leader of this Al-Sabah assult was ......

A Kenyan, former member of their special forces, born a Christian converted to Islam, went to Somalia in 2005, where he was training their militiamen in martial arts etc. 

A second attacker was named, a somali who'd worked in an isalmic bookshop in Eastleigh, Nairobi, then left for Somali, where he spent time in a CIA prison near the airport in Mogadishu.

No mention yet of the 'white widow'

[jimmy olsen]

First of all, why is the NYPD investigating this? Secondly, if this is true there are whole lot people in Kenya who need to be fired.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/10/21849660-only-four-shooters-at-kenya-mall-and-they-may-have-escaped-alive-says-nypd?lite

Only four shooters at Kenya mall and they may have escaped alive, says NYPD

By Tom Winter
NBC News

Only four men may have carried out the attack on a Kenyan mall that killed more than 60 civilians in September, and they probably escaped alive, according to an NYPD report made public Tuesday.

The report debunked many of the assertions made by Kenyan authorities, who claimed that as many as 15 attackers were involved, including some who might be foreign nationals, and that they were holding hostages.

More than 60 civilians and six soldiers died in the Sept. 21 assault by terrorists from the al Qaeda-affiliated group al Shabaab on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. After a two-day siege and a series of explosions, Kenyan authorities said they had cleared the mall and killed four attackers.

At a Manhattan press conference Tuesday morning, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said investigators didn't know "with certainty" how many people were involved, "but we believe there were only four shooters."

The NYPD report also said the attackers carried only light weapons, and that there is no evidence any of them tried to take hostages or remained in the mall after 12:15 a.m. on Sept. 22. It also said the female British jihadi known as the "White Widow" was probably never in the mall, despite tabloid rumors, and that the Kenyan military looted the high-end shopping complex.

Lt. Detective Commander Kevin Yorke, who prepared and presented the report, also questioned the Kenyan authorities' theory that the attackers died when explosions collapsed portions of the mall.

"As a cop, I'm very skeptical of claims until I see proof," said Yorke, and added that  there is "a lot of doubt in my mind it is true."

The NYPD sent several detectives to Nairobi with the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate the assault, and Yorke assembled their findings into the report.

According to the NYPD's reconstruction of events, the four attackers operated in two-man teams and coordinated their movements by cellphone. After throwing three grenades and entering the mall, they used AK-47s in single-fire mode to shoot their victims. More than one-third of the dead were attending a children's cooking contest that was being held in tents in the mall's roof parking lot. The attackers killed them within 15 minutes of arriving at the mall.

The report said the attackers had grenades and several hundred bullets in eight magazines, but no body armor, handguns or heavy weapons. They did not try to take hostages, but killed as many victims as they could, sparing some who could recite Muslim prayers or name the Prophet Mohammed's mother. A Russian hand grenade was found on the roof with the pin removed but unexploded.

No women were involved. Rumors had circulated during the siege that British citizen Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of a suicide bomber who attacked the London train system and killed 26 people as part of the "7/7" plot.

The NYPD report credits private security guards and personnel with clearing many people from the mall, though some may have fired on each other since they didn't use badges. Some civilians "played dead" as the terrorists walked past, while others who tried to hide, many in small stores, were shot dead.

Kenyan law enforcement initially thought they were responding to an armed robbery at the mall. The first Kenyan tactical team didn't arrive until 1:45 p.m., about 90 minutes after the attack began, and the Kenyan police commissioner arrived at 1:50 p.m.

The police department tactical team entered the mall at 3 p.m., without police markings or identifications, and were fired on by Kenyan soldiers, killing the commander of the unit.

According to the NYPD report, the responding Kenyans "had no idea what the mall looked like internally," and didn't know they could access the closed circuit television system.

One terrorist was shot in the leg. The shooters tilted or destroyed cameras in order to hide their whereabouts. By 6 p.m. they were in a mall storeroom near the loading docks, and waited there for six hours, tending their wounded comrade and praying. They can no longer be seen on closed circuit footage after 12:15 p.m., when the NYPD believes they slipped away.

The siege continued for two more days. In his presentation, Yorke dismissed the Kenyan government's claims that 10 to 15 shooters were involved or that the terrorists had created smoke by setting mattresses on fire. He said he didn't know what had caused the mall to collapse, but said the Kenyan military may have used rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles on the building, and that heat from fires caused by the explosions may have weakened the poorly built structure.

Yorke said that while the Kenyan military may not have killed any of the attackers, there was "significant" physical and video evidence that they had looted the mall.

[CountDeMoney]

First of all, why is the NYPD investigating this?

I don't know why you're so surprised, since this is what they do.

Secondly, if this is true there are whole lot people in Kenya who need to be fired.

I don't know why you're so surprised, since this is what they do.

[dps]

First of all, why is the NYPD investigating this?

I don't know why you're so surprised, since this is what they do.

Apparantly Timmay doesn't even read his own articles.  They were investigating as part of an anti-terrorism task force:

The NYPD sent several detectives to Nairobi with the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate the assault

[jimmy olsen]

I read it but I don't care for the explanation.

Should NYC have an Joint Terrorism Task Force, sure. Should it be flying off to Kenya to investigate a mall massacre. I don't think so.

[Ed Anger]

Lord Timothy does not care for the explanation.

[CountDeMoney]

Well, that takes care of that then.

[garbon]

[jimmy olsen]

Lord Timothy does not care for the explanation.

[Ed Anger]

IT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT, YOU KNOB.

[derspiess]