Gunmen stormed a crowded shopping mall frequented by Westerners on Saturday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, an apparent terror attack that has killed as many as 22 people.
A witness said that gunmen armed with AK-47s and grenades told Muslims to stand up and leave and that non-Muslims would be targeted, according to The Associated Press.
Simon Maina / AFP – Getty Images A policeman carries a baby to safety. Two hours after the attack began, armed police combed the shopping complex store by store and sporadic gunfire could still be heard. Kenyan soldiers have joined an operation to flush out gunmen, a Reuters witness said.
A Kenya Red Cross official said at least 22 people are dead. "The casualties are many, and that's only what we have on the outside," Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Guled said.
"Inside there are even more casualties and shooting is still going on." Advertise | AdChoices The Westgate shopping mall is reportedly a popular spot for wealthy Kenyans and tourists.
No group has taken responsibility for the attack. Somalia's rebel group al-Shabab vowed in late 2011 to carry out a large-scale attack in Nairobi in retaliation for Kenya's sending of troops into Somalia to fight the Islamic insurgents, according to the AP.
``It is a possibility that it is an attack by terrorists, so we are treating the matter very seriously,'' Mutea Iringo, the principal secretary in the Ministry of Interior told Reuters.
"They don't seem like thugs, this is not a robbery incident," Yukeh Mannasseh, who was on the mall's top floor when the shooting started, told Reuters. "It seems like an attack. The guards who saw them said they were shooting indiscriminately."
One eyewitness who identified himself as Taha said he heard the screech of brakes followed moments later by an explosion and then sustained gun fire from the ground floor.
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