Kenyan mall siege over: President Uhuru

Four days after militants laid siege to an upscale mall in the Kenyan capital city the bloodbath ended Tuesday leaving 72 people dead, as President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the multi-agency team had defeated the attackers and “that part has been completed”.

In a televised national address, Kenyatta said five terrorists were killed in the four-day siege to Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, while putting the civilian toll at 61 and admitting six security agents were also killed in the operation, Xinhua reported.

While stating there were still bodies trapped inside the building after part of the mall collapsed, the Kenyan president declared a three-day national mourning starting Wednesday.

A group of the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab stormed into the upscale mall frequented mostly by foreigners and rich Kenyans Saturday in the bloodiest assault since 1998, when the US embassy in the east African country was targeted in a bomb attack.

IANS