Posted on 09/24/2013 12:02:40 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab has launched a lengthy massacre in an upscale Nairobi mall popular with Westerners, with a death toll of at least 59 people so far. The attack comes in reprisal for Kenya’s participation in suppressing the terrorist networks that operate in al-Shabaab’s home base of Somalia, and specifically targeted “non-Muslims.” It’s essentially a replay of Mumbai from five years ago, with the only question remaining is how many more will the terrorists kill before getting killed themselves or committing suicide. The terrorists told Muslims to clear out of the mall before attacking the rest:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The Kenyan military remained in a tense standoff with Islamic extremists Sunday, as the toll rose to 59 dead, including children, and 175 wounded in the attack at an upscale mall, a Kenyan minister said.
Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted Sunday morning from inside the building where hostages are being held by militants. The radicals attacked the mall Saturday and remained inside throughout the night.
Kenya’s Red Cross said in a statement citing police that 49 people had been reported missing. Officials did not make an explicit link but that number could form the basis of the number of people held hostage.
“The priority is to save as many lives as possible,” Joseph Lenku said, reassuring the families of the hostages in the upscale Westgate mall. Kenyan forces have already rescued about 1,000 people, he said.
Ten to 15 attackers remain in the mall and Kenyan forces control the security cameras inside the shopping center, Lenku said. Combined military and police forces surrounded the mall in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi, which is frequented by foreigners and wealthy Kenyans. An Associated Press photographer saw Kenyan soldiers carry into the mall a rocket-propelled grenade, an extremely heavy weapon for an indoor hostage situation.
An explosion of an RPG inside a confined area would be extremely lethal, thanks to the rapid increase in air pressure. If the military has that weapon as an option, they may also think that the hostage situation will ultimately be futile.
This has been unfolding for hours, and the victims have been from China, France the UK, and Canada. A well-known Ghanian poet, Kofi Awoonor, is also among the dead. The US embassy says several Americans are among the wounded. The scene from the mall has been chaotic, but a number of people managed to escape:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
CNN also explores the al-Shabaab connection to al-Qaeda:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The attack comes after a civil war within al-Shabaab that apparently resulted in the death of the American traitor Omar Hammami. Hammami reportedly wanted al-Shabaab to take a more aggressive posture on attacks against the West, while the AS leadership didn’t appreciate having its strategy questioned by an impertinent foreigner. Perhaps this is a compromise between the two sides, sort of a Hammami-lite operation without Hammami (assuming, of course, that Hammami is actually dead). Just as with Mumbai, this raises questions about soft targets in Western nations and whether those governments are prepared to deal with a cadre of bloodthirsty jihadis who don’t worry about exit strategies in operations like this.
Update: That’s not the only terror attack today targeting non-Muslims. Two suicide bombers attacked Christian churches in Pakistan today, killing 56:
A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old church in Pakistan after Sunday Mass, killing at least 56 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim South Asian country.
Violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in past months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to tame the insurgency after coming to power in June. …
The Taliban-linked militant group TTP Jundullah claimed responsibility for the attack.
“They are the enemies of Islam, therefore we target them,” said the group’s spokesman, Ahmed Marwat. “We will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land.”
Christians make up about four percent of Pakistan’s population of 180 million and tend to keep a low profile in a country where Sunni Muslim militants frequently bomb targets they see as heretical, including Christians, Sufis and Shi’ites.
Update: Don’t forget that al-Shabaab has done a lot of recruiting in the Twin Cities among the ex-pat community here, and a number of young men remain missing. The FBI got quite a bit of cooperation from the Somalis here (no thanks to CAIR) as they tried to keep their sons out of the conflict that they had fled, and the probe has resulted in some indictments. Keep that in mind as we find out who the perpetrators were in this attack.
Update: This might get the US more deeply involved:
France said two of its citizens were killed, and Canada said two Canadians died, including a 29-year-old diplomat. Ghanaian diplomat and poet, Kofi Awoonor, was also killed, as was a Chinese woman, according to China’s official news agency.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who offered assistance to Kenya, said several U.S. citizens had been hurt and the wife of a U.S. diplomat working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was killed.
Don’t be surprised to see a few of these nations band together for a punishing attack on al-Shabaab in the future. (via the Daily Beast)
Hmmm ... This is starting to sound like another Benghazi.
Where’s the red line?
Obama supports Raila Odinga who advocates Islamic supremacy and Islamic terrorism in Kenya . We already know which side of the red line Obama stands on.
Bin Laden is Dead / GM is Alive.
All hail Obama.
Terrorism is Alive and GM owes the Taxpayers $50 Billion.
These are the guys that got ohaha pi$$ed at the Navy SEALs for shooting the poor boys to save an American ship captain which started the admin vendetta against the SEALs. NOW what is he going to do?
Somalia needs to vanish. And soon.
This is a Threat Matrix list documenting threats within and without. Anyone wanting on or off please advise.
Man, I’m getting sick of Islam..
At face value, and how the Western media is attempting to portray it, the Westgate Mall siege in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi appears to be yet another senseless terrorist attack by the “religious fanatics” of Al Qaeda’s Somalia franchise, Al Shabaab. Already, both Kenyan and Western politicians, as well as editorials across the Western media, are attempting to use the attack as a pretext to launch a military campaign against neighboring Somalia, while fueling anti-Muslim sentiment across profoundly ignorant audiences in the West.
http://mediachecker.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/kenyan-bloodbath-reaping-the-benefits-of-us-africom-collaboration-nato/
The GOOD (and surprising) news is the Ambassador had a WIFE.
That’s stunning news - that Obama appointed someone who is not openly homowhatever.
No chemical allure.
Have you noticed how the press keeps refering to the mall as ‘upscale’ for the ‘wealthy’?
We go to the mall nearly every week. The mall has everything, post office, supermarket, health shop, computer shop, toy store, flower shop, food court, McDonald’s, lotto/candy. Bank is across the street where we get off the bus (unless we walk the two stops through the park).
If they want to kill Americans, the mall is the place to go.
“If they want to kill Americans, the mall is the place to go.”........
I’m certain the terroirst already know that our malls are prime targets as are our schools. I also feel the mall attack in Kenya was a test run to see how it would work in the U.S. Everyone should be VERY aware of your surroundings when/if vising ANY mall as I expect it to arrive on our shores anytime.
For a variety of reasons, I resist going to Malls like avoiding the plague.
Yep. Starting to detect Barry’s handprints on this one too.
Yep. Starting to detect Barry’s handprints on this one too.
Malls also have Choke points for escape and entry and usually are that liberal fantasy “Gun Free Zones”....
“NOW what is he going to do?”
He’ll pass out candies to his muslim administration bedfellows and do a jig, of course for the loss of infidel lives.
We need a President with balls that is willing to stand up for Christians around the world, and call radical Islam for what it truly is. We should actively be fighting Ansar Al Sharia, Al Shabaab, and Al Qaeda. I know we have SF in Africa, but it should not be secretive guerilla warfare, we should make it rain hell on anyone who does things like this.
Unfortunately, neither Bush and especially not Obama are/were willing to fight this problem at its core. In the days of the Lockerbie Bomber, Reagan bombed Gadaffi’s house in Libya. We need that again.
I guess I’m pretty much preaching to the quire here on FR...
Thousands (probably many thousands) of sleepers are already here, waiting for their “go orders” to hit “soft targets”. They’re probably already picked-out targets, and have assets in-place to do the terrorism. WHEN it happens, it’s going to be awful. Just saying.
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