Gunmen attack Kenyan shopping centre leaving at least 10 people dead

A soldier takes up position outside the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya, after gunmen opened fire inside. Photograph: Jason Straziuso/AP

 

At least 10 people have been killed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after gunmen opened fire and threw grenades in an expensive shopping centre.

The Nairobi police chief, Benson Kibue, said officers were engaged in a shootout with the attackers. He said the men had been trying to rob a shop within the centre.


Armed police arrived nearly half an hour after the attacks began and engaged the gunmen in a shootout. Officers shouted: "Get out, get out", and scores of shoppers fled the building. At least half a dozen were bloodied and helped by first-aiders.

Security guards used shopping trollies to wheel out several wounded children and at least one man.
Rob Vandijk, who works at the Dutch embassy, said he was eating at a restaurant in the shopping centre when attackers lobbed grenades inside the building. He said gunfire then burst out and people screamed as they dropped to the ground.

Cars were left abandoned outside the centre after the attack started around midday on Saturday.
Other witnesses said they had seen about five armed assailants storm the Westgate shopping centre and that the incident appeared to be an attack rather than an armed robbery.

"They don't seem like thugs. This is not a robbery incident," Yukeh Mannasseh told Reuters. "It seems like an attack. The guards who saw them said they were shooting indiscriminately."

The centre is situated in Nairobi's affluent Westlands area and is frequented by expatriates and rich Kenyans.

theguardian