Attackers defeated in mall siege, Kenya's president says

[brooklynite]

Source: CNN

Three floors of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi collapsed during efforts to clear terrorists who had laid siege to the building for four days, trapping bodies inside, President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address Tuesday.

Five of the gunmen were killed in the fighting, Kenyatta said. Eleven other people had been arrested over possible connections to the attack, which left 61 civilians and six security officers dead, 62 people in the hospital and Kenya's reputation as a bulwark of African stability in tatters.

"We have ashamed and defeated our attackers," he said in the address, which capped a four-day ordeal in which Kenyan forces battled Al-Shabaab terrorists for control of the upscale mall.

Earlier in the day, sporadic gunfire could be heard coming from the mall as authorities made their final sweeps through the building.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/24/world/africa/kenya-mall-attack/index.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. 3 floors collapsed?

Must be related to that explosion yesterday that the police set off..
seems a bit extreme to blow up a mall in order to get attackers, and I wonder how many hostages were killed along with them.

[Lasher]

3. I read earlier that the Kenyan soldiers took RPGs into the area.

Somebody here said they thought that weaponry seemed overkill for a hostage situation like this. I guess that's a good point but I don't know enough specifics to judge.

[Renew Deal]

6. Kenya Mall Truthism starts with this post

[Turborama]

7. The terrorists set fire to the Mall. Where did you hear otherwise?

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Yesterday news

"Security officials at the scene said the explosions had been caused by Kenyan forces who set off blasts to get in through the roof."

http://news.sky.com/story/1145375/kenya-siege-gunmen-running-and-hiding

came thru first on Brealing News site, then linked story, above.

Situation was confusing, admittedly.

[Posteritatis]

2. Hopefully it's actually over this time. Astonished they took eleven of them alive. (nt)

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. I'm not sure the 11 arrested were the actual attackers.

It sounds like they rounded up 10 people that may be linked to the attack, including three at the airport.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. That's big talk from Kenyatta.

Al Shabab just struck spectacularly in his capital because of Kenya's intervention against them. That's a huge bloody nose for Kenya and Kenyatta.

And I don't know how you "defeat and shame" attackers bent on martyrdom.

[Prometheus Perez]

8. Good

Death penalty for them.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. That will probably be the outcome

even though the death penalty is not a solution to anything.

But, it makes the powers-that-be appear to be "doing something".

Al Shabab won this round. Their mission was to go in, kill people, and die. Mission accomplished.