The Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta has officially stated that the stand-off between the country’s security forces and Somalia militants group, al Shabab who attacked the Westgate Shopping Mall on Saturday is finally over.

In a televised address on national television and some international television networks, President Kenyatta said six members of the security forces were among 68 people who had died and declared 3 days of national mourning for the departed ones.

He however failed to give clear details of how many of the militants were killed or captured but said five militants had been killed and 11 other suspects arrested. He also added that the militants have been defeated and their leaders will be brought to face justice.

“The operation is now over, we have ashamed and defeated our attackers, Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed, these cowards will meet justice, as will their

accomplices and patrons, wherever they are’’, he said.

He also failed to confirmed local media speculation that some foreign nationals from the US and the UK were involved in the well planned attack.
“Intelligence reports had suggested that a British woman and two or three American citizens may have been involved in the attack, we cannot confirm the details at present, forensic experts are working to ascertain the nationalities of the terrorists”, he added.
“Our losses are immense,” the president said. “We have been badly hurt, but we have been brave, united and strong. We have showed the whole world what we can accomplish.”

At least 18 foreigners are among the dead. They include six Britons as well as citizens from France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, India, Ghana, South Africa and China.

About 175 people were wounded including 62 who remain in hospital and local reporters are saying that 52 people are missing and there could be a possibility that al Shabab has taken them across the border to Somalia as hostages.

Survivors of the attack told different accounts of horror and narrow escapes. Some say they made it out after hours and even days of hiding in terror in the mall.
A British security source said it was possible that Samantha Lewthwaite, widow of Germaine Lindsay one of the London suicide bombers of July 7 2005, was involved in the attack in some way. Lewthwaite is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack expensive hotels and restaurants in Kenya.

But al Shabab tweeted on its Twitter page, rubbishing those claims saying Shabab did not engage women in such a hard-line military operations.
“We have an adequate number of young men who are fully committed and we do not employ our sisters in such military operations’’, Shabab tweeted.

Al Shabab said they carried out the attack in response to Kenya’s military operations in Somalia. There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in the southern part of Somalia, where they have been fighting the militants since 2011.

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda and has repeatedly, threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Kenya did not pull its troops out of Somalia in what they described as Kenya’s violation of Somalia’s territorial integrity. They say they are fighting to create an Islamic state in Somalia.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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