Fox News has confirmed that Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the two militants died and some hostages were freed in the latest efforts to end the ongoing siege waged by al-Shabab, a Somali group with ties to Al Qaeda. Lenju did not provide the current number of militants still believed to be in the mall, but said the amount of hostages left was minimal.
Sustained gunfire was heard coming from the Westgate mall and four loud blasts shook the building Monday morning, sending plumes of thick smoke into the sky, and signaling a new attack on the militants who have been holding hostages inside since Saturday. The gunmen holed up inside the mall had caused the smoke by setting mattresses on fire in a supermarket as a decoy, according to a Reuters report.
Officials say at least 62 people were killed and 200 wounded in the weekend attack, while 63 were reported missing.
Kenya Chief of Defense Gen. Julius Karangi said he believes the attackers are from many countries. "We have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world," he said.
David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of Kenya's police force, said early Monday on Twitter: "We have managed to rescue more hostages overnight and very few are remaining. We are also closing in on the attackers."
On two separate occasions early Monday, reporters and witnesses outside the mall could hear sporadic gunshots and occasional heavy bursts of rifle fire along with muffled blasts, implying that Kenyan police and special forces had not yet secured the building.
A spokesman for the terror group al-Shabab, which has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack targeting non-Muslims, threatened that the hostages would be killed if Kenyan security forces — who are being aided by Western and Israeli military experts — tried to storm their position, Reuters reports.
"Israelis and Kenyan forces have tried to enter Westgate by force but they could not," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage reportedly said in an audio statement posted online. "The mujahadeen will kill the hostages if the enemies use force."
Kenyan officials said Sunday that while "most" of the hostages had been freed after a major assault had been launched on the mall, an unknown number of people were still being held by up to 10 to 15 militants inside a supermarket in the shopping complex.
Meanwhile, the FBI and U.S intelligence officials are "aggressively" investigating whether or not Americans were among the militants who attacked the mall, a federal law enforcement
The military assault began shortly before sundown on Saturday, with one helicopter skimming very close to the roof of the shopping complex as a loud explosion rang out, far larger than any previous grenade blast or gunfire volley.
At around midnight local time, Kenya's Defense Forces said it had rescued most of the hostages and had taken control of most of the mall, but declined to give further information on those freed. Officials said four Kenyan military personnel were wounded in the operation.
Kenya's presidential office said that one of the attackers was arrested on Saturday and died after suffering from bullet wounds.
Many of the rescued hostages — mostly adults — were suffering from dehydration, Col. Cyrus Oguna, a military spokesman.
Cecile Ndwiga said she had been hiding under a car in the basement parking garage.
"I called my husband to ask the soldiers to come and rescue me. Because I couldn't just walk out anyhow. The shootout was all over here — left, right — just gunshots," she said.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in an address that the attackers "shall not get away with their despicable and beastly acts." "We will punish the masterminds swiftly and indeed very painfully," he added.
White House officials said Sunday that President Obama called Kenyatta to tell him the United States supports the country's effort to bring al-Shabab to justice.
Kenyans and foreigners were among those confirmed dead, including French, Canadians and Chinese. The U.S. State Department said four American citizens were injured and were being given assistance. The age of the victims ranged from 2 to 78, Reuters reports.
Nineteen people, including at least four children, died after being admitted to Nairobi's MP Shah hospital, said Manoj Shah, the hospital's chairman. Kenyatta's nephew and the nephew's fiancée are also among the dead.
Sara Head, an American citizen who is in Nairobi for a business trip, told CBC that she was in the mall's parking garage when gunfire first broke out. She said she hid for 90 minutes inside a stairwell with her driver and two other wounded people before they ran into a bloody supermarket to escape through a loading dock.
U.S. law enforcement, military and civilian personnel in Nairobi were providing assistance as requested by Kenya, spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
A source tells that the U.S. intelligence community believes the attack is a "hot" and "major event" because it is outside the normal scope of al-Shabab and the alleged "multinational character" of the attackers.
Peter King, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on ABC’s “This Week” that al-Shabab is “one of the only Al Qaeda affiliates which actually has actively recruited here in the United States.”
King called the attack a "well-coordinated, well-planned massacre.”
The United Nations Security Council condemned the attacks in a statement and "expressed their solidarity with the people and government of Kenya."
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