Kenyan Shopping Mall Remains Under Siege
September 23, 2013
Kenyan security forces continue an assault launched yesterday on the Westgate shopping complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in an attempt to end a two-day siege by terrorists. More than 1,000 people were inside the mall, Nairobi’s most up-scale shopping complex, when the terrorists stormed it on Saturday, slaughtering dozens of civilians and taking hostages. At least 62 people are known to have died in the attack, and more than 170 others were injured. A Kenyan army spokesperson has announced that security forces have secured much of the shopping center and that only a small number of hostages is believed to remain under the militants’ control. However, the militants are armed with military-grade weaponry and, according to security experts, seem determined to fight to the death.
The Islamist al-Shabab movement has claimed it carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenyan military operations in Somalia. The group, which has killed countless civilians with suicide bombs, has repeatedly threatened attacks in Kenya if the Kenyan government did not pull its troops out of Somalia. There are currently about 4,000 Kenyan troops there as part of an African Union peacekeeping force.
Nairobi, a city of more than 3 million people, is one of Africa's largest and most cosmopolitan cities. It is a center for banking, trade, and other commercial activities. (© Images of Africa Photobank/Alamy Images)
Al-Shabab (Arabic for “youths”) has been active in Somalia since the early 2000′s. It is intent on establishing an Islamic state there under Shar’iah law. Al-Shabab has at various times controlled large sections of southern and central Somalia. In early 2012, Western-backed African Union peacekeeping forces pushed al-Shabab out of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Despite being forced out of the capital, al-Shabab remains in control of smaller towns and large swathes of the countryside.
Terrorism experts believe that al-Shabab has links to the al-Qa’ida cell in Yemen, the Islamic Maghreb terrorist organization in Mali, and the Islamist Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria.
The expensive shops and restaurants at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall attracted wealthy Kenyans and expatriates alike. Among the dead were people from Canada, China, France, Ghana, India, and the United Kingdom.
Additional World Book articles:
- Islam 2012 (a Back in Time article)
- Kenya 2011 (a Back in Time article)
- Kenya 2012 (a Back in Time article)
- Nigeria 2012 (a Back in Time article)
- Terrorism 2008 (a Back in Time article)
