Free Republic

<p>As if the senseless massacre of innocents in Nairobi’s Westgate mall was not horrific enough, reports are surfacing that the Islamic terrorists who seized the mall last weekend tortured, beheaded, raped, and mutilated their victims before killing them. A police doctor who entered the mall after the attack said these reports “are not allegations. Those are f***ing truths.”</p>

Al-Shabaab, the Somali-based terrorist group that attacked a shopping mall in Kenya, said on Wednesday that foreigners were a "legitimate target". Speaking to the Associated Press (AP), members of the group confirmed that gunmen separated Muslims from others and let the Muslims go. In an email exchange with the news agency, the Al-Qaesa affiliate said the jihadis "carried out a meticulous vetting process" so the Muslims would not be harmed. At least 18 foreigners were killed, including six Britons, citizens from France, Canada, Trinidad, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, India, Ghana, South Africa and China, when the terrorists entered the Westgate...

Westgate Shopping Centre on fire amid fears that terrorists have carried out suicide bomb attack Claims that five of the attackers are American and two are British Men, women and children slaughtered if they could not recite Koran or name Prophet Mohammed's mother

Kenyan security forces, including commando teams and military helicopters, launched a "final assault" on the luxury shopping mall in Nairobi where a group of armed militants were holding around 30 hostages. As night fell in the Kenyan capital a huge blast reverberated around the Westgate mall, where the attackers – thought to be members of the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab – had been holed up since shooting their way into the shopping centre on Saturday afternoon. Two hours later the Kenyan defence forces tweeted that they had rescued most of the hostages and secured most of the mall. Four soldiers...

"Most" of the hostages who have been holed up at an upscale shopping mall in Kenya's capital after it was attacked by members of an Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group on Saturday have been freed, Kenya's military says. Kenya's armed forces launched a "major" assault on the militants on Sunday night -- about 30 hours after the Islamists stormed the Nairobi mall in an attack that left at least 68 dead and 175 injured. At around midnight local time, Kenya's Defence Forces said it had rescued most hostages and had taken control of most of the mall, but declined to...

Sixty-eight dead. At least 175 injured. About 30 hostages still inside, as well as perhaps a dozen gunmen. Those are the grim numbers, more than a day after Islamist attackers stormed an upscale Nairobi mall on Saturday, spraying bullets and holding shoppers captive. The tense standoff continued into Sunday night, with sporadic gunfire heard through the day and at least one explosion.

There are 31 people confirmed dead in Saturday's attack at a Nairobi shopping mall, the Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre tweeted. "Bodies in the lobby area and ground floor to be removed," the organization added. Several hours after the assault began, Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the bloodshed. There were also 100 people injured, the official said. As darkness fell in Nairobi, authorities said as many as 36 hostages are still being held by the gunmen in the mall... Americans were also injured in the attack, said Deputy State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf. But...

Kenyan police and soldiers have pinned down the remaining gunmen who opened fire at a shopping centre earlier today, killing 30 and leaving at least 50 others injured. A security source at the scene in the capital Nairobi confirmed moments ago the attackers have been isolated. The source said: 'The attackers have been isolated and are pinned down in an area on one of the floors - the rest of the mall seems to be secure.' No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is looking increasingly likely the Somalia terrorist group al-Shabaab may be responsible. A statement released...

Excerpt of article accompanying 14 photos of attack at source link: Militant gunmen stormed a shopping mall in Nairobi on Saturday killing at least 25 people, including children, and sending scores fleeing in panic from shops and restaurants onto the streets, according to witnesses and the Red Cross. Shooting continued hours after the initial assault as troops surrounded the Westgate mall and police and soldiers combed the building, hunting down the attackers shop by shop. A police officer inside the building said the gunmen were barricaded inside the Nakumatt supermarket, one of Kenya's biggest chains. "We got three bodies from...

Gunmen threw grenades and opened fire Saturday killing at least 10 people in an attack targeting non-Muslims at an upscale mall in Kenya's capital that was hosting a children's day event, witnesses said. A local hospital was overwhelmed with the number of wounded being brought in hours after the attack, so they had to divert them to a second facility. Elijah Kamau, who was at the mall at the time of the midday attack, said that the gunmen made a declaration that non-Muslims would be targeted. "The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims...

Approximately 1,000 dead fish have been found floating in a pond at the National Mall, the National Park Service has confirmed. A Park Service crew will test the water and algae levels at the Constitution Gardens pond Thursday. However, the number is not unusual for that pond, officials said, due to the construction and design of the area. The Park Service said it's long stressed the importance of redesigning the pond to maintain a better ecological balance.

Prolonged bursts of gunfire inside mall Witnesses say incident an attack, not robbery Some blasts may be from grenades, they say At least five people were killed when gunmen burst into a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Saturday and opened fire, witnesses said. Police helicopters circled overhead as armed police shouted "get out, get out", and scores of shoppers fled the building. Smoke poured out of one entrance and witnesses said they heard grenade blasts. Others said they saw about five armed assailants storm the Westgate shopping mall and that the incident appeared to be an...

The day after thousands rallied to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, the National Mall looks like a trash dump. The grass from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial is covered Sunday with empty soda cans, water bottles, boxed lunches, newspapers, a broken chair and rally signs. The Reflecting Pool also was filled with trash. Although the trash cans were full along the expanse, the attendees did not attempt to leave their garbage near the bins. Instead, they left everything on the grass where they stood.

Opinion from an Atlanta talk show host. He discusses the mall cop trying to bring security to a crime plagued Atlanta mall.

Dongguan, China (CNN) -- They built it, but the shoppers didn't come. New South China Mall in Guangdong Province opened in 2005. With 5 million square feet of shopping area, the mall can accommodate 2,350 stores, making it the largest shopping center in the world in terms of leasable space -- more than twice the size of Mall of America, the biggest shopping center in the United States. At the outdoor plaza, hundreds of palm-trees blend with a replica Arc de Triomphe, a giant Egyptian sphinx, fountains and long-stretching canals with gondolas. Only problem is, the mall is virtually deserted....

More than 20,000 protestors from around 160 organizations will swarm the National Mall Sunday in hopes of intensifying the pressure on President Obama over climate policy. The president has not yet detailed the specifics of how he will address the issue, aside from a pledge made in the State of the Union address to take executive action on climate if Congress fails to make progress. Demonstrators are likely to offer plenty of loud suggestions in what green groups are branding the largest ever United States climate rally. “We’re really past the point of playing games with any of this stuff,”...

BATON ROUGE, LA - The Mall of Louisiana has been closed and evacuated after a fight broke out between dozens of young people Saturday evening. Deputies were called to the food court area around 6 p.m. and said the troublemakers quickly dispersed to other areas of the mall. No injuries were reported though several ambulances were dispatched to the area and initial reports of shots fired were apparently incorrect. However, at least one eyewitness reported a chaotic and scary scene in the second floor food court.

Court documents show Tami Roberts misappropriated $18,000 that Jacob Roberts received in an inheritance from his grandmother when he was a young teen. She said that was not the reason for the estrangement.

NEWTON, Mass. — A local family says a language barrier may have resulted in police using a Taser on a woman after she tried to buy too many iPhones at a local mall. Police, however, say the incident isn't that clear cut. Xiaojie Li, of Newton, said she is embarrassed by Monday's Pheasant Lane Mall in New Hampshire incident. "So my mom says she don't know why they called the police, because she doesn't understand what they are talking about," her 12-year-old daughter Jiao Jay said. Jay said her mother bought two iPhones last Friday, and was told that was...

Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, was the masked man who stormed into Clackamas Town Center Tuesday afternoon, fatally shooting two people and wounding another before turning a gun on himself, police said. Roberts does not appear to have a criminal history in Oregon, according to court records. He had two speeding tickets earlier this year. Court records show that Roberts and a woman, Hannah Shoemake, were evicted last summer from their Happy Valley apartment. Roberts' mother answered her door at her Portland home, but declined to comment to an Oregonian reporter. "I loved my son very much," she said.