NAIROBI (AFP) – Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants said Tuesday they were still holding hostages as Kenyan troops battled for a fourth day to end the bloody siege at a Nairobi shopping centre.
Sporadic gunfire and a series of explosions at the upmarket Westgate mall broke out again at dawn, hours after officials claimed Kenyan troops had wrested back “control” of the sprawling complex from Somalia’s Shebab insurgents, who are said to include Americans and a British woman.
At least 65 shoppers, staff and soldiers have been killed and close to 200 wounded in the siege, but concerns are high that the toll may rise, with the Shebab boasting about “countless number of dead
bodies still scattered inside the mall”.
The fate of 63 people listed as missing remains unclear.
“The hostages who were being held by the mujahedeen inside Westgate are still alive, looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive,” the Shebab said in their latest Twitter message.
However, Kenyan officials have said all the hostages are believed to have been freed, with the interior ministry saying Tuesday the assault was “very near the end”.
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