Saturday, September 28, 2013
Kenyan authorities are holding
eight people in connection with an attack by Islamist militants
on a Nairobi shopping mall and have released three others after
the assault that killed 67 civilians and soldiers, the interior
minister said on Friday.Somali Islamist group al Shabaab said Saturday's attack,
which ended after a four-day siege by soldiers and police, was
"just the premiere of Act 1" and suggested it would be followed
by other actions by its "warriors".
As the police investigation advanced, a leading Muslim
cleric urged security forces to avoid harassing Muslims in their
pursuit of those responsible.
Investigators trying to determine the identity of the
attackers were making "good progress" in their search through
the rubble of the mall where three floors collapsed after a
series of blasts and a huge blaze, Interior Minister Joseph Ole
Lenku said. Five of the attackers were killed, he said, but
survivors of attack have said some may have escaped.
"Police are holding eight suspects as they seek to unmask
the face behind the terror attack. Three others were
interrogated and released," Ole Lenku told a news briefing.
Kenyan officials have said they are investigating a theory
that the Islamists may have hired a shop in the mall before the
assault to store weaponry, including a heavy machine gun.
Suspects were being held under anti-terrorism laws meaning
they could be held "for longer periods before being arraigned in
court", Ole Lenku said, although he did not give details.
Al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, said it launched
the attack to demand Kenya withdraw its troops from Somalia,
where Kenyan forces deployed in 2011 to strike at the group
which Nairobi blamed for attacks and kidnappings in Kenya's
eastern area and coastline.
AL SHABAAB: "JUST THE PREMIERE"
The
assault on Westgate mall confirmed Western and regional fears about al
Shabaab's ability to strike beyond Somalia's borders. It also dented
Kenya's vital tourism industry, although the finance minister said it would not have a long-term impact.
A top Kenyan military official played down reports of a
build-up of Kenyan forces near the Somali border, saying that
troops who had gathered near Somalia were rotating to join
African peacekeepers there and replace other Kenyan soldiers.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said Kenya will not withdraw.
Al Shabaab, which taunted Kenya during the mall raid when
its militants were still holding out, issued a new threat.
"The mesmeric performance by the #Westgate Warriors was
undoubtedly gripping, but despair not folks, that was just the
premiere of Act 1," the group said on Twitter, @HSM_PR, a handle
it often changes as its accounts are regularly suspended.
Muslim scholar Ibrahim Lethome condemned the mall attack
when he addressed worshippers at Nairobi's central Jamia mosque
on Friday. Muslims make up around 10 percent of Kenya's
40-million population which includes a patchwork of ethnic
groups.
Some reports of the assault said militants singled out
non-Muslims for killing and spared some Muslims. But Lethome
poured scorn on the idea the attackers had acted in the name of
Islam.
"Islam is against the killing of innocent people. Period. It
is a crime," he said. He said the government should avoid
persecuting Muslims as it seeks to identify those responsible.
"Sometimes the way the state operates and the government
operates creates radicalisation," said Lethome. He said he had
heard reports of harassment of Muslims since the attack, but did
not provide details.
"WHITE WIDOW"
Kenyan and Western officials have said they cannot confirm
speculation that Briton Samantha Lewthwaite, widow of one of the
2005 London suicide bombers, had a role in the mall attack. Some
survivors said they saw an armed white woman.
Kenya requested a "red alert" wanted notice issued by
Interpol for Lewthwaite, dubbed the "White Widow" by the British
media, but said she was wanted in connection with a previous
2011 plot that was also linked by police to al Shabaab.
Ole Lenku repeated Kenya's determination not to withdraw
from Somalia, saying it was a mission of "national security".
On the eastern border, residents have reported more troop
activity, fuelling speculation of fresh Kenyan military action.
Kenyan soldiers, with other African Union forces, have
driven al Shabaab out of the Somali capital Mogadishu and other
urban areas but the group controls swathes of countryside.
A top-ranking official from the Kenya Defence Forces told
Reuters fresh troops were moving in to replace existing ones.
"We have soldiers coming out of Somalia and soldiers going
in, as part of the same contingent the country is contributing
to AMISOM," he said, using the African Union force's acronym.
The interior minister said there were no formal reports of
people still missing since the attack. The Kenyan Red Cross has
previously said dozens were still missing.
There are fears the attack could hurt Kenya's economy,
especially its $1 billion-a-year tourism industry. But Finance
Minister Henry Rotich said economic growth in 2013 would still
be 5.5 to 6 percent and plans to issue the nation's debut
Eurobond would go ahead this financial year.