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| Mary Italo, center, grieves with other relatives for her son Thomas Abayo Italo, 33, who was killed in the Westgate Mall attack, as they wait to receive his body at the mortuary in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013. Thomas was an accountant and the breadwinner of the family who helped look after Mary who is sick, according to relatives. Kenyan authorities prepared for the gruesome task of recovering dozens more victims than initially feared after the country's president declared an end Tuesday to the four-day siege of the Nairobi mall by al-Qaida-linked terrorists. |
NAIROBI, Kenya
(AP) -- Working near bodies crushed by rubble in a bullet-scarred,
scorched mall, FBI agents began fingerprint, DNA and ballistic analysis
Wednesday to help determine the identities and nationalities of victims
and al-Shabab gunmen who attacked the shopping center, killing more than
60 people.
A gaping hole in the mall's roof
was caused by Kenyan soldiers who fired rocket-propelled grenades
inside, knocking out a support column, a government official told The
Associated Press. The official, who insisted he not be identified
because he was sharing security information, said the soldiers fired to
distract a terrorist sniper so hostages could be evacuated.
Video
of the roof collapse showed massive carnage. The collapse came Monday,
shortly after four large explosions rang out followed by billows of
black smoke. Although a government minister said the terrorists had set
mattresses on fire, causing the roof to collapse, the video showed such
massive destruction that the explanation seemed unlikely to be the full
story.
Al-Shabab on its Twitter feed Wednesday
claimed that the Kenyan government assault team carried out "a
demolition" of the building.
The current death
toll is 67 and is likely to climb with uncounted bodies remaining in
the wreckage of the Nairobi mall. Another 175 people were injured,
including more than 60 who remain hospitalized. At least 18 foreigners
were among those killed.
Al-Shabab, the Somali
Islamic extremist group which carried out the attack, said Wednesday
that foreigners were a "legitimate target" and confirmed witness
accounts that gunmen separated Muslims from other people and let the
Muslims go free. The others were gunned down or taken hostage.
"The
Mujahideen carried out a meticulous vetting process at the mall and
have taken every possible precaution to separate the Muslims from the
Kuffar (disbelievers) before carrying out their attack," the group said
in an email exchange with The Associated Press.
Witnesses
have told AP and other media that gunmen rounded up people, asked
questions about Islam that a Muslim would know and told the Muslims to
leave the mall. Still, some Muslims were among the victims.
Also
among those killed when the militants entered the Westgate Mall on
Saturday, firing assault rifles and throwing grenades were six Britons
and citizens from France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru,
India, Ghana, South Africa and China.
Asked if
al-Shabab had intended to kill foreigners, the group said "our target
was to attack the Kenyan govt on it's soil and any part of the Kenyan
territory is a legitimate target ... and Kenya should be held
responsible for the loss of life, whether foreigners or local."
Al-Shabab
had threatened retaliation against Kenya for sending its troops into
Somalia against al-Shabab, and many of those killed in an attack that
horrified the world were Kenyans. The group's leader, Ahmed Godane, said
in a new audio statement Wednesday that the attack was carried out in
retaliation for the West's support for Kenya's Somalia invasion and the
"interest of their oil companies." Somalia has untapped energy reserves.
More attacks would come, Godane said, if Kenya doesn't withdraw its
troops.
Though Kenya's foreign minister
earlier said that "two or three" American citizens may have been
involved in the attack, a Western official said that after checking
passport and refugee databases, there is not yet an indication any
Americans were involved. Several U.S. cities, notably Minneapolis, host
large Somali-American communities.
The
violence continued elsewhere Wednesday. In the Kenyan town of Wajir,
which lies along the border with Somalia, one person was killed and four
wounded after a gunman opened fire and threw grenades, the Interior
Ministry said.
Interior Minister Joseph Ole
Lenku said forensic experts from the U.S., Israel, Britain, Germany and
Canada are all taking part in trying to reconstruct the scene at the
mall. He said results would not be ready before a week's time.
Morgue
officials in Nairobi have been prepared for the last two days for a
large influx of bodies still in the mall. Officials have told AP that
the shopping center, which the terrorists held for four days, could hold
dozens more bodies. The government has confirmed 72 total deaths: 61
civilians, six security forces and five attackers. The Red Cross says 71
people remain missing.
Al-Shabab said the
Kenyan government assault team carried out "a demolition" of the
building, burying 137 hostages in the debris. A government spokesman
denied the claim and said Kenyan forces were clearing all rooms
Wednesday, firing as they moved and encountering no one.
The
al-Shabab claim appeared to refer to the rocket-propelled grenades
fired inside the Nakumatt department store, in the incident described to
AP by a government official.
In a series of
tweets from a Twitter account believed to be genuine, al-Shabab also
said that "having failed to defeat the mujahideen inside the mall, the
Kenyan govt disseminated chemical gases to end the siege."
Kenyan
government spokesman Manoah Esipisu told AP that no chemical weapons
were used - including tear gas - and that the collapse of floors in the
mall was caused by a fire set by the terrorists.
"Al-Shabab
is known for wild allegations and there is absolutely no truth to what
they're saying," he said. But officials said the death count will likely
rise.
The country's interior minister in a press conference said an "inconsequential number" of bodies remained in the mall.
The
mall's top level parking lot collapsed in the middle of the building.
That brought the second level down onto the ground floor on top of at
least eight civilians and one or more attackers, said Esipisu.
Lenku
said there were no indications that a woman took part in the attack,
despite persistent press speculation, and he said officials have not yet
confirmed reports that the attackers had rented a shop inside the mall.
U.S.
Ambassador Robert Godec said Wednesday that Washington is providing
technical support and equipment to Kenyan security forces and medical
responders. Godec said the U.S. is assisting the investigation to bring
the attack's organizers and perpetrators to justice.
In another development, a British man was arrested in Kenya following the terrorist attack, Britain's Foreign Office said.
British
officials are ready to provide assistance to the man, the agency said
in a statement Wednesday. Officials would not provide his name or
details. He is believed to be in his 30s. Britain's Daily Mail newspaper
said he was arrested Monday as he tried to board a flight from Nairobi
to Turkey with a bruised face and while acting suspiciously.
Kenyan
officials have said that 11 suspects in total have been arrested in
connection with the attack, including at least seven at the airport.
They are being questioned, said the government spokesman.
The
International Criminal Court in the Hague has said it is prepared to
work with Kenya to bring the attackers to justice. ICC Prosecutor Fatou
Bensouda said in a statement that while Kenya has primary jurisdiction
in the slaying of civilians in the Westgate Mall, the atrocity could
also fall under the court's jurisdiction.
Al-Shabab,
whose name means "The Youth" in Arabic, first began threatening Kenya
with a major terror attack in late 2011, after Kenya sent troops into
Somalia following a spate of kidnappings of Westerners inside Kenya.
The
mall attack was the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998
al-Qaida truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which killed more
than 200 people.
