Kenya mourns as searchers scour mall
Death toll stands at 67 but figure likely to rise
NAIROBI: Kenyan troops and rescue workers scoured the wreckage of a shopping mall here for bodies and booby-trapped explosives after a four-day siege by al-Shabab gunmen left 67 dead and dozens more missing.
Rescuers wore face masks and some soldiers wrapped scarves around their mouths to cover what they said was an overpowering stench inside the Westgate centre, once one of the capital’s most upmarket malls. A large part of the centre has collapsed after heavy explosions and a fierce fire.
Al-Shabab claimed yesterday that the Kenyan soldiers used chemical weapons in their assault on the building, then carried out “a demolition” to cover evidence and buried 137 hostages.
In a series of Twitter posts from an account believed to be genuine, alShabab said that “having failed to defeat the mujahideen inside the mall, the Kenyan govt disseminated chemical gases to end the siege”.
They added that “to cover their crime, the Kenyan govt carried out a demolition in the building, burying evidence and all hostages under the rubble”.
Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu immediately denied the claim, saying that no chemical weapons were used and that the official civilian death toll remains at 61.
“Al-Shabab is known for wild allegations and there is absolutely no truth to what they’re saying,” he said.
Esipisu said floors of the building collapsed after a fire started by the attackers caused structural weakness in a third floor parking lot, which then came down onto the second floor and brought it down onto the first, or ground floor.
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced an end to the 80-hour bloodbath late on Tuesday, with the “immense” loss of 61 civilians and six members of the security forces.
Police said the death toll was provisional, with the Kenyan Red Cross listing 63 people as still missing. Close to 200 were wounded in the four-day siege.
Across Kenya, flags flew at half mast at the start of three days of official mourning.
“Leading forensic experts” from other countries including America, Britain and Israel are supporting Kenyan teams.
Teams of sniffer dogs were being used to check for explosives and victims buried under the rubble.
In one of the worst attacks in Kenya’s history, the militants marched into the four-storey, part Israeli-owned mall at midday on Saturday, spraying shoppers with automatic weapons fire and tossing grenades.
Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab rebels said the group carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenya’s two-year battle against the extremists’ bases in the country. — Agencies