Somali rebels kill 30 in Nairobi mall

The rebels says the carnage was in direct retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.

NAIROBI: Masked gunmen stormed a packed upmarket shopping mall in Nairobi on Saturday, killing 30 people and wounding dozens more in a massacre claimed by Somalia’s Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels.

The rebels said the carnage was in direct retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia, where African Union troops are battling the militants.

“The Mujahideen entered Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting the Kenyan Kuffar (infidels) inside their own turf,” the group said on Twitter.

A security source said police and soldiers had finally “pinned down” the gunmen after hours of fierce gun battles and painstaking evacuations, with police going shop to shop to secure the Westgate shopping mall.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2013.