HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN THE ATTACK?
The official death toll, provided by President Uhuru Kenyatta,
has stood at 67 – 61 civilians and six members of the security forces –
for two days. Officials, witnesses and rescuers had said before the end
of the siege on Tuesday that they expected the tally to rise further as
teams searched the mall wreckage.
As well as Kenyans, the dead include foreigners from Britain, Canada, China, France, the Netherlands, India, South Africa and South Korea.
WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE REPORTED MISSING?As well as Kenyans, the dead include foreigners from Britain, Canada, China, France, the Netherlands, India, South Africa and South Korea.
The Kenyan Red Cross has said since Tuesday that 61 people have been
reported missing, implying there were still a number of bodies buried
under the rubble of the Westgate mall, a large part of which collapsed
in the final moments of the siege.
Yet Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku created some confusion
when he declared Wednesday that an “insignificant” number of victims
were believed to remain buried under the rubble.
WHO WAS HELD HOSTAGE AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Officials confirmed that the attackers took several civilians hostage
to hold the siege inside the mall and said they were freed in the joint
security effort to end the crisis. But the circumstances of that
episode remain unclear.
“If, as was said, hostages released, where are they now?” reads one tweet echoed by many others that have circulated on social media.
WHO ARE THE ATTACKERS?“If, as was said, hostages released, where are they now?” reads one tweet echoed by many others that have circulated on social media.
The attack was claimed by the Shabaab, a Somali group that has been
battling the pro-Western government there for years and is allied to
Al-Qaeda. It has not however disclosed the composition and strength of
the commando.
The Kenyan government has said it would divulge the attackers’
identities in due time and needed to carry out fingerprinting, DNA
testing and further forensic investigation. Corroborating witness
accounts suggest the majority were ethnic Somalis, including many
Kenyans. Information on the five attackers killed has not yet been
released.
Some media outlets have suggested that among the attackers was
Britain’s Samantha Lewthwaite – best known as the “White Widow” – who
was already wanted over her alleged involvement in other terror plots.
Lenku said Kenya’s security services were treating the rumour as just
that.
WAS SECURITY ADEQUATE AT THE MALL?
The upscale Westgate opened in 2007 and quickly became a symbol of
new prosperity for Kenya’s elite. It was also part Israeli-owned and
always teeming with foreigners, including tourists and staff from the
huge UN complex which lies a few minutes down the road. It had long been considered a prime potential target for the Shabaab,
which has repeatedly warned it would retaliate for Kenya’s invasion of
southern Somalia two years ago.
Yet on the day of the attack, as was the case most of the time, no
more than cursory checks were carried out on people and vehicles
entering the four-level shopping centre and many have argued since
Saturday’s raid that security was too lax
