Explosions, gunfire heard at the westgate mall as the terror at the mall enters day 3

Loud explosions and heavy gunfire were heard at the Westgate Shopping Mall on Monday as Kenyan troops fought the Al Qaeda-linked Al-shabaab gunmen, who have claimed responsibility of the attack and are still holding hostage an unknown number of victims inside the mall.

This happens as the stand-off enters its third day with 69 people having been confirmed dead so far by the Kenya red Cross society.

The rapid gunfire that erupted at dawn lasted for almost 15 minutes as soldiers posted around the complex took cover. According to the AFP correspondent at the scene, the gunfire was followed by three big explosions. 

The Kenyan Defence Forces has since said that it has secured a better part of the shopping mall.

Meanwhile, a security source said a final assault is underway to rescue all the hostages who are still being held at the shopping mall for a third day today.


“Our concern is to rescue all hostages alive and that is why the operation is delicate,” the Kenya Defence Forces said in a statement overnight, adding that it was trying to bring a “speedy conclusion” to the drama.

However,m the KDF did not say how many people were still being held hostage by the gunmen.

While addressing the nation on Sunday, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed that the attackers will not get away with their despicable and beastly acts.

“We will punish the masterminds swiftly, and indeed very painfully,” he vowed.

According to a Kenyan security source as well as a Western intelligence official, Israelis were involved in the operation, along with British and US agents.

The Somalia based Al-Shabaab rebels said the attack was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia, where African Union troops are battling the militants.

“If you want Kenya in peace, it will not happen as long as your boys are in our lands,” Shabaab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement.

The group also issued a string of statements via Twitter, one of them claiming that Muslims in the centre had been “escorted out by the Mujahideen before beginning the attack”.

Quite a number of witnesses, most of whom were inside the mall at the time of the attack on Saturday afternoon, have been quoted as saying that the gunmen were trying to weed out non-Muslims for execution by interrogating people on their faith or asking them to say the Shahada, or Islamic creed.