A policeman carries a baby to safety after masked gunmen stormed a mall Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya. AP

Somali group says it’s retribution for 2011 assault

By Jason Straziuso and Tom Odula http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya — Terri­fied shoppers huddled in back hallways and prayed they would not be found by the Islamic extremist gunmen lobbing grenades and firing assault rifles in­side Nairobi’s top mall Sat­urday.

At least 39 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in the assault, Kenya’s president an­nounced on national TV, while disclosing that his close family members were among the dead.

Foreigners were among the casualties. France’s president said that two French women were killed. Two Canadi­ans were killed, including a diplomat, said the Cana­dian prime minister. Four American citizens were reported injured but not killed in the attack, the State Department said Saturday.

Early Sunday morning, 12 hours after the attack began, gunmen remained holed up inside the mall with an unknown number of hostages. President Uhuru Kenyatta called the security operation under way “delicate.”

As the attack began shortly after noon Satur­day, the al-Qaida-linked gunmen asked the victims they had cornered if they were Muslim: Those who answered yes were free to go, several witnesses said.

The non-Muslims were not.

Somalia’s Islamic ex­tremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility and said the attack was retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into So­malia. The rebels threat­ened more attacks.

Al-Shabab said on its Twitter feed that Kenyan security officials were trying to open negotia­tions. “There will be no negotiations whatso­ever,” al-Shabab tweet­ed.

As night fell in Ke­nya’s capital, two contin­gents of army special forces troops moved in­side the mall.

Police and military surrounded the huge shopping complex as he­licopters buzzed over­head.

Witnesses said at least five gunmen — in­cluding at least one wom­an — first attacked an outdoor cafe at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, a shiny, new shopping center that includes Nike, Adi­das and Bose stores.

The mall’s ownership is Israeli, and security experts have long said the structure made an at­tractive terrorist target.