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Table of contents
Kenyas 26/11 at Westgate mall

Kenyan troops rescue 1,000 people, but at least 59 dead Photos from the mall attack Nairobi eye-witness: Civilians barricaded themselves in shops, theatres 04 05 09
The Indian connection to the tragedy

Nairobi tragedy, then Indian red tape: Ordeal of victims kin Kenya mall attack: Pregnant Indian RJ among victims Nairobi mall attack: Malayalam film crew escapes by a whisker Nairobi attack: A list of victims who died in Westgate mall 11 13 14 15
Who were the attackers

Who are al Shabab, the Islamist terror group that attacked Al Shabab: Who are its Al Qaeda leaders, Western faces, foreign commanders Nairobi mall attack: Who is the white widow and is she involved? After Nairobi attack, Al Shabab could emerge more vociferous than ever Kenya attacks: US under pressure to mount action against al-Shabab 19 21 23 25 27
What India can learn

Is this Nairobis 26/11? Striking parallels with Mumbai attack Nairobi terror attack: Lessons India should learn Nairobi mall attack: How can we prevent such attacks in India? Lessons from Nairobi: Why India is not ready for the next 26/11 30 32 35 37
The impact on Nairobi and Kenya

Westgate massacre: Remembering a happy Nairobi My Nairobi: Remembering the people who made Westgate special Will Nairobi terror attack spell doom for Kenyas economy? 41 43 44
Terrorism in cyberspace
Outside Westgate mall, al-Shabab, police battle it out on Twitter Live tweeting terror: How al-Shabab broadcast their attack on Twitter Demolition by Kenyan forces killed 137 in Westgate mall: Al Shabab 46 48 51
Copyright 2012 Firstpost
Kenyas 26/11 at Westgate mall
Kenyan troops rescue 1,000 people, but at least 59 dead

Associated Press, September 22, 2013 enya's interior Cabinet secretary says at least 59 people were killed and 175 wounded in the attack by al-Qaidalinked militants at an upscale mall in Nairobi. Joseph Lenku said Sunday that about 1,000 people have been rescued so far from the Westgate mall. The gunmen remain inside with hostages nearly 24 hours after they launched the attack with
grenades and assault rifles. Lenku said that there are 10 to 15 attackers involved. He said that Kenyan forces have control of the security cameras inside the mall. Combined military and police forces have surrounded the building. The Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, and targeted nonMuslims.
Photos from the mall attack

WARNING: Some of the images are graphic and disturbing. At least 39 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in a deadly 26/11 style assault on a Nairobi top Mall by Islamist terror group al Shabab. Witnesses said at least five gunmen including at least one woman first attacked an outdoor cafe at Nairobis Westgate Mall, a shiny, new shopping center that includes Nike, Adidas and Bose stores. The attack began shortly after noon with bursts of gunfire and grenades. At least two Indians are among the dead, with another six injured. These are photographs of the rescue efforts and of the carnage wrought inside the mall by the attackers.
Injured people cry for help after gunmen went on a shooting spree in the Westgate mall in Nairobi: Reuters
Some of the victims of the Nairobi terror attack: Reuters
Security officers guide civilians out of the Nairobi Westgate mall which was attacked by militants: Reuters
People run with their children to safety in the Westgate mall which was attacked by terrorists: Reuters
Civilians escape an area at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi: Reuters
Security officers enter the Nairobi Westgate mall in a bid to flush out the terrorists that attacked it, killing at least 39 people: Reuters
Mall employees leave their shops to safety: Reuters
Nairobi eye-witness: Civilians

barricaded themselves in shops, theatres
The biggest challenge faced by the military forces while countering the terror attack in Nairobis Westgate Mall was the lack of knowledge about either the number of gunmen present or where they were camping inside the mall, said Tyler Hicks, a photojournalist with The New York Times, who entered the mall with the security forces and documented the events unfolding inside for two hours.
FP Staff, September 22, 2013 he biggest challenge faced by the military forces while countering the terror attack in Nairobi's Westgate Mall was the lack of knowledge about either the number of gunmen present or where they were camping inside the mall, said Tyler Hicks, a photojournalist with The New York Times, who entered the mall with the security forces and documented the events unfolding inside for two hours. In an interview to the NYT, Hicks said that he was in an adjacent mall when the terrorists attacked the mall. He immediately moved to Westgate and entered the premises with the security forces.
Hicks said: "Military forces didnt know where the militants were, so they continued to sweep through looking for them. Of course, there was the concern of I.E.D.s or that they would throw a grenade or shoot. In the shopping mall, there was an endless amount of places that they could hide or potentially attack from." He added that several of the people trapped inside the mall had set up barricades themselves and were hiding inside shops, inside cafes and movie theatres and the injured were wailing for help. He said that the nature of these attacks are same everywhere - be it Afghanistan, Pakistan or Kenya - and unarmed civilians fall prey to these terrorists in the same ways. Describing the scene inside the mall he said: "There were many civilians who had barricaded themselves inside shops, inside the movie theater, inside restaurants, inside a beauty salon it seemed like everywhere you went, there were more people who just appeared out of the woodwork." Read Tyler Hicks' complete interview here.
He said that he didn't spot any terrorist in his two-hour stay but came across several injured civilians and bodies of those who had died in the attack. The priority of the security forces, he said in the interview, was to rescue the civilians stuck inside and then move from one section of the mall to another.
The Indian connection to the tragedy
Nairobi tragedy, then Indian red
tape: Ordeal of victims kin

In the forty-eight hours before Sanjivi Natarajans departure to pick up his brothers body from Nairobi, where he was a victim of the mall hostage crisis, he faced extraordinary trauma - the consequence not just of the agonising news, but a bizarre bureaucratic barbed-wire fence that could only have been built in India.
Apoorva Dutt, September 24, 2013 nal Affairs did not contact them, so they made their own arrangements. Sanjivi initially tried to leave at 4.30am on Monday morning on a Qatar flight. But at the airport, he was stopped because he had not taken a vaccination for yellow fever. "We began contacting officials, and we were told that he should arrive at the Port Office for vaccinations at any time Monday morning," says the relative. "But when he reached there, the office was shut. It turned out that the officials had forgotten to tell them to keep the clinic open for him," the relative said. Sanjivi was told that he could only be vaccinated on Wednesday, which would be much too late. "When he came back home, he got a call at 3.30pm, saying he should come back to the office for his vaccination, but now with a spare passport holder-since the rules mandate that two people must be travelling for a vial of yellow fever vaccine to be opened," said the family member. "Firstly, this back-and-forth at such a time of crisis in inconvenient to say the least. He had family matters to take care of. There were logistical reasons that he could not go for this," he said. The confrontation erupted into "heated words," recounts the family member.
arly this morning, Chennai resident Sanjivi Natarajan left for Nairobi on one of the most painful missions anyone can have: to collect the body of his brother, Sridhar, killed in the terrorist attack on the Westgate mall. He is scheduled to be received at Nairobi airport by Indian embassy staff, who are already caring for Sridhar Natarajan's wife, Manjula, who is in critical care at a city hospital.
In the forty-eight hours before Sanjivi Natarajan's departure, though, he faced extraordinary trauma - the consequence not just of the agonising news the family had received from Nairobi, but a bizarre bureaucratic barbed-wire fence that could only have been built in India. "We started planning on getting Sanjivi to Nairobi Sunday night," says a family member, who did not want to be named, to Firstpost. According to the family, the Ministry of Exter-
"The Ministry of External Affairs has insisted to the media and everyone else they speak to that they are doing everything for us, but this is not true," said the relative."They told us that we were being 'high-maintenance', even though they were doing everything to help us." Sridhar and his wife had moved to Nigeria five years ago and later shifted to Kenya after he got a job with a pharma firm in Nairobi. The other Indian who died in the attack was identified as Paramshu Jain, the 8-year-old son of a banker in Nairobi. Finally after much hue and cry the Director arranged for a spare passport holder to show up pro-forma, and Sanjivi is now hoping to leave at 4.30am on Tuesday morning. "We are hoping there are no more goof-ups at the Nairobi airport," says the relative. Manjula has already undergone one surgery, and is currently critical but stable. She is scheduled for several more macrofacial surgeries over the coming week. "There has been very little information flowing from the Ministry of External Affairs," says the relative. "We have had to do everything for ourselves. Their reaction has been shoddy, to say the least." Ministry of External Affairs officials told Firstpost that they felt deeply for the family, and had done all they could to help. However, one official said, a maze of rules created by what he called "a nanny state" meant the MEA itself had to work overtime to clear the bureaucratic maze. "Look," he said, "we should not have a shortage of yellow fever vaccine, but we did, and there's not a lot the MEA can do about it. The Chennai health officials cited norms forbidding them from using a vial from the limited stock of vaccine for just one person, and we didn't have the authority to overrule them. And perhaps the doctors should have waited longer for Sanjivi, but that's again not something the MEA can do anything about."
Finally, the official said, the MEA contacted the Indian Embassy in Nairobi, who said they would arrange for vaccination on Sanjivi's arrival - and requested immigration authorities to exempt him from the vaccination requirement, something that technically was outside their power. Later, though, immigration authorities raised the prospect that Sanjivi might have been stopped in transit at Doha - leading the MEA to make a second, and finally successful, attempt to get the vaccination done by Chennai's health authorities. The thing is, the rules themselves make no sense. First, yellow fever vaccine takes a minimum of ten days to kick in. This means Sanjivi will be unprotected from the disease while he is Kenya, shot or no shot. Secondly, the vaccination is meant to protect India from the disease spreading here, not Kenya, where it already exists. Thus, the vaccination certificate is actually needed on return from a yellow-fever zone, not when going to one. Yet, Indian immigration rules mandate that it be checked for outbound travellers as well - and don't provide for emergency exemptions. Ironically, the certificate is not checked for many passengers from yellow fever zones returning to India, since they transit through third countries where the disease isn't endemic. Fascinatingly, World Health Organization guidelines say vaccination is not recommended for travellers to Nairobi, since the disease is not endemic there. Put simply, Sanjivi was put through huge harassment for no discernible health benefit, simply because of a bureaucratic rule no-one had the power to overturn. Needless to say, the rules would likely have been waived if he'd been a well-networked VIP. And that says something very depressing about our country.
Indian RJ among victims

Ruhila Adatia-Sood, a popular media personality of Indian origin, was among the 69 people killed by the Islamist militants.
Kenya mall attack: Pregnant
PTI, September 24, 2013 On her Twitter account, Ruhila described herself as a "food lover, thrill seeker and a bungee jump away from sanity". In a post on her blog, she confessed to her love for Indian food. She wrote, "It might have something to do with the fact that I am Indian...." Her radio presenter colleague, Kamal Kaur, was helping with the cooking competition and was at the event with her two young children when they all came under attack from a gunman. "Then he (the attacker) came out again with his big rifle. My daughter kept whispering to everybody, 'Pretend you're dead! He won't shoot... pretend you're dead'.." Kaur was quoted as saying by BBC. Kaur and her children managed to escape. "Ruhila was six months pregnant and she lost her life and we're very devastated about that..." Another Indian man, pretending to be a Muslim, tried to escape when the attackers called out for Muslims to identify themselves and leave, British newspaper The Guardian a witness Joshua Hakim as saying. "An Indian man came forward and they asked, 'What is the name of Muhammad's mother?' When he couldn't answer, they just shot him," Hakim said.
uhila Adatia-Sood, a popular media personality of Indian origin, was among the 69 people killed by the Islamist militants.
Ruhila was in the rooftop car park of Westgate mall as part of a team hosting a cooking competition for small children at the time of the attack.
She was married to Ketan Sood, who works for USAid in Nairobi, and was pregnant, media reports said. Ruhila was a presenter on Radio Africa media group's East FM and hosted entertainment news on Kiss TV, E-News, Kiss 100 and X-FM.
Nairobi mall attack: Malayalam film crew escapes by a whisker

Three members of the crew, including the director, cameraman and associate director, had visited the mall barely an hour before the attacks.
Malayalam movie crew which was shooting in Nairobi could have been trapped in the terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall, but for an overcast sky.
FP Staff, September 24, 2013 rained, according to a report in Malayala Manorama. Within half an hour of their leaving the mall, the director receieved a call again from Indrajith asking them if they had left. The attack had begun by then. The crew has been in Nairobi for a few days now shooting for Naaku Pente Naaku Taka (apparently in Swahili language). They are still in Nairobi and will return only after finishing their shoot. Interestingly, two Malayalam movies have been shot in Africa recently. One is titled Escape from Uganda which tells the story of a young girl wrongly held in an Ugandal jail and her daring escape. The shoot of the movie has been completed and it is getting ready for release. The second is the one that is currently being shot in Kenya. National award winning Tamil actor Dhanush's recent hit Maryaan also was shot extensively in African locations.
Three members of the crew, including the director, cameraman and associate director, had visited the mall barely an hour before the attacks to identify appropriate locations within the building. They spent an hour in the mall till they received a call from the lead actor of the movie Indrajith asking them to get back home before it
Nairobi attack: A list of victims
who died in Westgate mall

Here are details about some of those who were killed or wounded.
Associated Press, September 24, 2013
he victims of the attack on the upscale Westgate Mall in Kenya's capital were from around the world. Here are details about some of those who were killed or wounded. Australia Representational image. Reuters Representational image. Reuters Architect Ross Langdon worked in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, creating eco-lodges and socially sustainable tourism in ecologically sensitive locations. He said at a conference last year that he thought trying to adapt to one's environment was a better way to express respect for the communities in which he was working.
"I thought it might be better to be like a chameleon able to adapt and change and blend with our environment rather than conquer it," he said. British media reported he was a dual national, though the Foreign Office did not identify British victims by name. ___ Britain British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said six British deaths occurred and the number could rise.
They include Zahira Bawa and her 8-year-old and former ambassador to Brazil, Cuba and daughter Jenah, from Leamington Spa in centhe United Nations. Ghana's ministry of infortral England, a relative told Britain's Press Asso- mation said Awoonor's son was injured and is ciation news agency. responding to treatment. ___ Canada Annemarie Desloges, a border services liaison officer in Canada's High Commission to Kenya, "was one of our bright young lights, and hers was a career brimming with promise," said Tim Edwards, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. She was a 29-year-old from a "foreign service family" and had accompanied her parents on overseas postings before deciding to follow in their footsteps in 2006. Vancouver businessman Naguib Damji also died in the attack, a daughter and niece confirmed to various media. Two sisters from Toronto, 17-year-old Fardosa Abdi and 16-year-old Dheeman Abdi, were seriously injured. Their aunt Hodan Hassan said from her home in Minnesota that Fardosa was in critical condition with severe leg injuries. ___ China A 38-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Zhou who worked in the real estate industry was killed, state media said. Her son was injured in the attack and was in stable condition in a hospital, according to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya. ___ France Two French women were killed, President Francois Hollande said. ___ Ghana Kofi Awoonor was a Ghanaian poet, professor Awoonor's work drew its inspiration from the traditions of his native Ewe tribe. Ghana's poetry foundation said on its website that Awoonor went into exile after Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was driven out in a coup in 1966. He studied at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his dissertation was published in 1975. He returned to Ghana and was later jailed for alleged involvement coup plot. His time in prison was recounted in "The House by the Sea (1978)," the foundation said. ___ India Three Indians were killed in the attack, including an 8-year-old boy, Paramshu Jain, whose father is manager of a Nairobi branch of an Indian bank. The child's mother, Mukta Jain, is among four Indians who were injured. The others confirmed dead by the Indian External Affairs Ministry are Sridhar Natarajan, a 40-year-old from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and Sudharshan B Nagaraj, of the southern city of Bangalore. ___ Kenya Ruhila Adatia-Sood was a popular radio and TV personality in Kenya and her husband worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Nairobi. She was expecting a child. Mitul Shah was president of the Bidco United football team in Kenya, Football Kenya spokesman John Kaniuki said. Shah worked for the Bidco cooking oil company and was reportedly attending a promotional cooking event with children at the mall. President Uhuru Kenyatta's nephew and nephew's fiancee were also among the dead. ___
The Netherlands Elif Yavuz was a senior vaccines researcher for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, according to a statement from the Clinton family. "Elif was brilliant, dedicated, and deeply admired by her colleagues, who will miss her terribly," the Clintons said. She had completed her dissertation research on malaria in eastern Africa and graduated this year from Harvard University's Department of Global Health and Population, the school said. Yavuz, 33, was Langdon's partner and was expecting their first child in early October. ___ New Zealand Andrew McLaren, 34, a New Zealander who managed a factory in Kenya for the avocado oil company Olivado, was wounded in the attack, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. He was hospitalized in stable condition. ____ Peru Juan Ortiz-Iruri was a retired tropical disease specialist for UNICEF who had lived for 25 years in Africa, according to UNICEF and Peruvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Neyra.
His son, Ricardo Ortiz, told Radio RPP that Ortiz-Iruri entered the mall accompanied by his daughter, a 13-year-old born in the U.S. She suffered a hand injury, but is out of danger. ___ South Africa One South African citizen was killed, according to the country's International Relations Department. ___ South Korea South Korea's Foreign Ministry said one South Korean woman was among the dead. It provided no further details. ___ Switzerland One Swiss citizen was injured, but the embassy would not provide further the victim's name. ___ United States Five American citizens were injured, US officials said.
Who were the attackers
Who are al Shabab, the Islamist
terror group that attacked

Islamist terror group al Shabab claimed responsibility for a horrific 26/11 style terror attack on an upscale Nairobi mall on Saturday afternoon. Here are some key facts about the group.
Ayeshea Perera, September 23, 2013 Another tweet said: For long we have waged war against the Kenyans in our land, now its time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land #Westgate. Al-Shababs Twitter account was suspended shortly after its claim of responsibility and threats against Kenya. Twitters terms of service forbids making threats. Here are some key facts about the group: * al-Shabaab is a Somali offshoot of the al-Qaeda. However as this CNN analysis report notes, Al-Shabaab has long been regarded as a regional offshoot of al-Qaeda, its leaders only declared their formal ties to the international terror organization in February 2012. al-Shabaab means 'The youth" in Arabic. * The group is fighting to establish a strict Islamic state in Somalia. The group describes itself as waging jihad against "enemies of Islam"
slamist terror group al Shabab claimed responsibility for a horrific 26/11 style terror attack on an upscale Nairobi mall on Saturday afternoon local time, saying that it was in retaliation for Kenya's military involvement in Somalia.
The attack has killed at least 43 people and injured more than 200, according to the latest reports. However this toll is likely to rise further, especially since a number of gunmen are still holed up inside the mall with an unspecified number of hostages. Shortly after the attack, al Shabab claimed responsibility via its Twitter feed, and said that it has many times warned Kenyas government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia would have severe consequences. The attack at #WestgateMall is just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders, al-Shabab said.
* Its indiscriminate bombing strategies that saw many civilian and Muslim casualties came in for criticism from other branches of the al Qaeda including Osama Bin Laden himself. It is noteworthy that the group reportedly escorted Muslims out of the mall before indiscriminately firing and throwing grenades inside. * al-Shabaab was originally engaged in combat with the Somali government and a multinational force called AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia, which has been conducting peacekeeping operations with the backing of the United Nations. Led by Ugandas army, AMISOM succeeded in forcing al-Shabab to retreat from Mogadishu,
Somalis capital, in 2011. Last year, more than 2,000 Kenyan troops joined hands with a Somali clan to evict al-Shabab from its last urban stronghold, the port town of Kisimayo. However it evolved its fighting methods - Instead of force-on-force fighting with AMISOM, it switched to terrorism.By avoiding direct military confrontation, according to a UN report, it has preserved the core of its fighting force and resources. Read more * The once ragtag affiliate has grown into an economic powerhouse, raising tens of millions of dollars in cash from schemes that have involved extortion, illegal taxation and other "fees," according to a 2011 United Nations re-
port. * According to the US National Counter terrorism centre, "al-Shabaab is not centralized or monolithic in its agenda or goals. Its rank-andfile members come from disparate clans, and the group is susceptible to clan politics, internal divisions, and shifting alliances." * According to this CNN report, "The group is believed to be responsible for attacks in Somalia that have killed international aid workers, journalists, civilian leaders and African Union peacekeepers. It has struck abroad, too. It was responsible for the July 2010 suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, that killed more than 70 people, including a U.S. citizen, as they gathered to watch a World Cup final soccer match.
Al Shabab: Who are its Al Qaeda leaders,
Western faces, foreign commanders

All you need to know about the Al Shabab, its ideology, its leaders, recruiters, etc.
FP Staff, September 24, 2013
or more than three whole days, gunmen who stormed Nairobis Westgate mall have continued to hold out against every effort by security forces to purge the five-story building of them. Their persistence has drawn the world medias attention to the intense training and planning that appear to have gone into the attack, bigger and more dramatic than anything the Al Shabab has executed until now.
nal, the Al Qaeda commanders come from Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan and the United States. The report mentions, among others, Pakistani citizen Abu Musa Mombasa who serves as the Al Shabab's chief of security. (Later reports have not confirmed this.) The Longwar Journal report also mentions other key Al Qaeda men now with the Al Shabab -- Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan who was appointed by Osama bin Laden as the Al Qaeda leader in East Africa; Shaykh Muhammad Abu Fa'id, a Saudi citizen who serves as a top financier and manager; Abu Sulayman Al Banadiri, a Somali of Yemeni descent who trained in Afghanistan. There is also Abu Mansour al Amriki, whose real name is Omar Hammami, a US citizen who converted to Islam and traveled to Somalia in 2006, and was reportedly killed last year. Before his death, the American Hammami was a commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist who appeared in several videos. Hammami reportedly joined the Al Shabab in 2006, appeared as the American face of the group and was seen promoting some Islamic rap songs and also viewed as the sheikh of Western jihadi fighters. A research paper from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), London, also says that the Al Shabab, like the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), attracts English-speaking Muslims and also recruits Western Muslims. Noting that large Somali populations in the United Kingdom and United States could be recruitment pools for the Al Shabab, it cites two key instancCopyright 2012 Firstpost
As has been widely reported, the group aligned itself with the Al Qaeda not so long ago, but some dots are still to be joined linking the groups leadership and functioning, and its threats of more dramatic violence, to global jihadist networks. Reports of Westerners among the attackers remain unconfirmed still, but the Al Shabab is not a stranger to foreign commanders, with some reports indicating that Al Qaeda commanders who left Afghanistan and Pakistan have assumed positions of leadership in the Somali group. Uncorroborated reports suggest that a Pakistani national runs the group's security and training. According to this report in the Longwar Jour-
es. One was the January 2012 arrest of a former U.S. Army soldier charged with trying to join Al Shabab. The other was in November 2011 when the Al Shabab claimed that an American-Somali from Minnesota, wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, took part in an October assault against African Union forces in Mogadishu. He was apparently one of two suicide bombers involved in the attack. He was at least the third American Al Shabab suicide bomber, the research paper said. Notwithstanding some foreign commanders and fighters, the Al Shabab was set up by Somalis who continue to control it through a Shura Council. In a series of detailed profiles of the Al Shababs top leadership, Critical Threats, which tracks security threats to the United States, says the Shura Council has suffered internal divisions ever since the group overtly joined the Al Qaeda network. According to the site, the Al Shabab is led by Ahmed Abdi Godane, aka Mukhtar Abu Zubair, who the group calls emir. Godane was one of the original founders of the group and its top leader since 2008, designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the US and with a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his location. Godane, from Hargeisa in Somaliland, studied at a madrassa in Pakistan on a scholarship funded by wealthy Saudis. He is suspected to have a home and family in Sharjah. In his first statement on June 2, 2008, as the head of al Shabaab, Godane pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and praised other prominent al Qaeda operatives. He also vowed that his group would launch a direct attack against the United States, says the report. A later video shows Godane pledging allegiance to Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri Other leaders of the Al Shabab include Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, also known as Abu Mansur, about who unconfirmed reports have suggested
that he surrendered to the Somali government in July this year. Also a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) to the US, Robow is from Baidoa in the Bay region of Somalia and trained with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2000, returning to Somalia after the Taliban fell from power. Robow also promotes a degree of transnational jihadist activity, the report says, adding that he once told militants in Mogadishu that he would send them to Yemen. On March 7, 2011, Robow threatened Kenya with a repeat of the devastating bombings that rocked Uganda on July 11, 2010, the report says. Robow is committed to a state governed by Sharia law. By various accounts, there appear to have been rifts between Robow and Godane. The groups chief spokesperson is Ali Mohamed Rage, also known as Ali Dhere. Another senior leader is Fuad Mohamed Qalaf, also known as Shongole, believed to be key to fund-raising for the Al Shabab. Shongole took asylum in Sweden in 1992, but returned to Somalia in 2004 to fight with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), the report says. A critic of media organizations, he accused editors of Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC of treason to Islam for misleading Somali Muslims in 2010. Read the complete profiles of the leaders here.
Nairobi mall attack: Who is the

white widow and is she involved?
Who is the white widow and why would she be a suspect in the Nairobi mall attack?
he 'white widow' has been frequently named in news reports on the Nairobi mall attack, amidst reports of UK and US citizens being among the attackers who stormed the building. Although there is no official evidence that the 'white widow', Samantha Lewthwaite - so named because she is the widow of London's July 7 bomber - is actually among the attackers, eyewitness and Kenyan government reports that there was a white woman among the terrorists have fueled these claims.
FP Staff, September 24, 2013 was unlikely. "It would be very unusual for a woman to be involved in one of these operations," he said. "Typically these groups are misogynist. Their view is the woman should be in a home and shrouded in a body veil." This report by the BBC also mentioned that Lewthwaite had been named, but like CNN, cast doubts on the claim. "Media reports suggest Ms Lewthwaite, the widow of 7 July bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was involved in the attack but the Foreign Office says it has no evidence and is unwilling to speculate", the report said. Kenya's foreign minister Amina Mohamed has also been quoted as saying that "two or three Americans" and "one Brit" were among the attackers although she did not mention whether the 'Brit' suspect was a man or woman. But who is the 'white widow' and why would she be a suspect? Here are some quick facts about her:
A CNN report quoted State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu as saying that there were reports of a white woman among the hostage takers. Kenyan intelligence officials were investigating the claims, he said. According to the report: Esipisu was asked if the reported woman was thought to be the infamous Al-Shabaab-affiliated "White Widow," Samantha Lewthwaite. "Nothing is being ruled out," he said. But CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said it
* A Muslim convert, Samantha Lewthwaite had been dubbed the "white widow" because of her marriage to Jermaine Lindsay, who blew up an underground train at King's Cross in London in 2005, killing 26 people, says the Belfast Telegraph. She had initially denied any knowledge of the attack and even condemned Lindsay's actions, but fled the country shortly after. * The Belfast Telegraph report adds that after Lindsay's death, Lewthwaite married another jihadist while on the run in Africa where she became a leader of the al-Shabaab, which has claimed responsibility for the Westgate attack.
"Lewthwaite later arranged the assassination of a terror rival in an attack that also claimed the life of her second husband, Habib Ghani. She did not even acknowledge the fact he had been murdered," the report adds. * She has been charged by the Kenyans in her absence of being part of a terror cell, which allegedly involved other Britons, that planned attacks in the country in 2011, says The Telegraph newspaper. * She is the 29-year-old daughter of a soldier and was born in Ireland, says the New York Times, adding that she is now in hiding with her three children. * Lewthwaite has even been involved in training a group of all-female suicide attackers at camps in lawless neighbouring Somalia, says the Daily Mail, which carries a detailed profile of her. The Daily Mail profile adds that Lewthwaite is one of Al Qaedas main recruiters in East Africa and is an official spokesman for Al Shabaab. "Her fearless reputation within Africas growing Is-
lamic terror network has been strengthened by her own involvement as a mujahid or warrior during a series of bombings and shootings in Kenyas tourist areas," the profile adds. * Aboud Rogo Mohammed and Sheikh Abubaker Shariff Ahmed, who the US claim are the chief radicalisers and recruiters in Mombasa for Somalias Islamist army 'al-Shabaab', have been funded through Lewthwaite, sources told The Telegraph. But the outfit denied any links with her. That is ridiculous, Sheikh Abubaker told the daily. I have never met this Samantha, I have never heard of her apart from in the newspapers." * Lewthwaite has also been accused of being the chief financier of al Qaeda in East Africa. According to this report in The Telegraph, her alleged links to plot attacks at Eton College and the Ritz Hotel in London resulted in Western embassies briefly barring their citizens from visiting Kenya, resulting in very high security at hotels and malls.
emerge more vociferous than ever

A report in the Washington Post quotes the Africa deputy program director of thinktank International Crisis Group, EJ Hogendoorn, as saying the mall attack could lead to increased support from sympathisers of the Al Shabab.
FP Staff, September 25, 2013 ith the siege of Westgate over, investigators concur that this attack by Al Shabab was not only its most dramatic ever and, in terms of global impact, beyond the scale of anything the Somali terror group has attempted in the past, but also bears the stamp of the Al Qaeda. US security officials piecing together evidence from eyewitness accounts, interceptions and intelligence have reportedly said the attack was well-planned. Also, the target selected a mall thats a symbol of affluence in a growing economy, frequented by foreigners, with a cafe owned by Jews on the ground floor, all together guaranteed to provide global exposure and the 26/11 style attack point in the direction of the global jihadist network. Not only that, security agencies across are also in agreement that the Al Shabab a UN report earlier this year pegged the total strength of the group at 5,000 could emerge more vociferous after the Nairobi attack. A report in the Washington Post quotes the Africa deputy program director of thinktank International Crisis Group, EJ Hogendoorn, as saying the mall attack could lead to increased support from sympathisers of the Al Shabab. The newspaper quotes Hogendoorn as saying, Whether this will arrest the groups decline remains to be seen. The group has been weakened, and this is an attempt to reverse that trend. In a detailed account of the transnational support for the Al Shabab, a CNN report said the ...Al Hijra is far from defeated. According to the UN report, it has established links with Al-Shabaab affiliates elsewhere in East Africa and is enlisting the services of fighters returning from Somalia "to conduct new and more complex operations." Its leadership has become closer to al Qaeda through figures such as Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, known as "Makaburi," who is said to favor large-scale attacks in Kenya in support of Al-Shabaab, the report says. Several experts have also suggested that the long internecine wars within the Al Shabab, in which several commanders were killed includCopyright 2012 Firstpost
After Nairobi attack, Al Shabab could
group could well emerge stronger. Apart from training and weapons from the Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP), it says, the Al Shabab gets support from the al Hijra, mostly non-Somali east Africans fighting in Nairobi and Mombasa and also closely linked to the only previous major attack by Al Shabab, the Kampala attack of 2010.
ing an American-born commander who had criticised Al Shabab emir Ahmed Abdi Godane also called Mukhtar Abu Zubair, could be a contributing factor for the attack, a kind of assertion by Godane, who was central to the group committing allegiance to the al Qaeda last year. Godane, termed a designated terrorist by the US, has a reward of $ 7 million on his head. Then there is also the foreign recruitment and fundraising that the Al Shabab is already known for. CNN's national security analyst Peter Bergen, also director at the New America Foundation and author of a book on Osama bin Laden, writes in CNN: Of all al Qaeda's affiliated groups, the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab has over the past several years had the deepest links to the United States. Some 15 Americans have died fighting for Al-Shabaab, as many as four of them as suicide bombers in Somalia, and an American citizen even took up a leadership role in the group. Bergen says a study by the New America Foundation found 22 residents of Minnesota to have
funded or fought with Al Shabab in the past four years, leading to crackdowns by the Justice Department and the FBI in a task codenamed Operation Rhino. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the UN special representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, said on Tuesday that African troops battling the Al Shabab in the region need reinforcements, helicopters and armoured vehicles. According to the report, he drew attention to three ports along the Somali coast that he said were being operated by the Al Shabab for illicit trade, including export of charcoal, to finance themselves. Kay will go to the United Nations in New York this week to press for more support for the military effort by the "under-resourced" Amisom, the African Union Mission in Somalia, the report said, stating that though the country is physically the size of Afghanistan, the Amisom does not have even a single military helicopter for their campaign.
Kenya attacks: US under pressure to
mount action against al-Shabab

The White House is under pressure to ramp up counterterrorism action against al-Shabab in Somalia following the al-Qaida-linked groups deadly attack on an upscale Kenyan shopping mall that has killed and injured dozens, including Americans
ashington: The White House is under pressure to ramp up counterterrorism action against al-Shabab in Somalia following the al-Qaida-linked group's deadly attack on an upscale Kenyan shopping mall that has killed and injured dozens, including Americans.
AP, September 23, 2013 that had already killed at least 68 people. The Kenya Defense Forces say their troops have rescued "most" hostages and have taken control of most of the mall in Nairobi. State Department spokesman Marie Harf said five U.S. citizens were among the more than 175 injured, but no Americans are among those reported killed. Harf said U.S. law enforcement, military and civilian personnel in Nairobi are providing advice and assistance as requested by the Kenyan authorities. U.S. counterterrorism officials throughout the Obama administration have debated whether to target the Somalia-based rebel group more directly, especially after it merged with al-Qaida in early 2012. But U.S. action has been limited to the occasional drone strike or raid when a particularly high-value al-Qaida target comes into view, while relying primarily on assisting Somali and African peacekeeping forces to carry out the day-to-day fight. That decision was partly driven by the fear that directly targeting al-Shabab would spur the group to expand its own target list, striking at U.S. diplomatic posts overseas and calling on members of the Somali diaspora inside the U.S. to carry out attacks, according to multiple current and former U.S. counterterrorism officials. They all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly internal policy decisions. A White House official said Sunday that the administration had taken a "balanced approach." "It's not a question of either direct action or playing a supporting role," National Security
Republican lawmakers Sunday said the attack showed al-Qaida is growing in size and strength, belying the Obama administration's claims that it has grown weaker. "They're not on the decline," said Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, on CBS' "Face the Nation." ''They're on the rise, as you can see from Nairobi." Al-Shabab militants launched their assault on Saturday, storming the mall with grenades and gunfire. Kenyan security forces launched a "major" assault late Sunday on the mall, where the militants are still holding an unknown number of hostages, trying to end the two-day standoff
Council spokesman Jonathan Lalley said by email Sunday. "Our approach has been to work to enable and support African partners," as well as prosecuting some al-Shabab members and supporters, he said. "The U.S. military has also taken direct action in Somalia against members of al-Qaida some of them members of al-Shabab engaged in efforts to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States and U.S. interests," Lalley said. But that effort in Somalia pales next to, say, the hundreds of U.S. drone strikes against militants in Yemen and Pakistan during the Obama administration. The Somali rebel group has similarly limited its own target list to Somali officials or troops, and African Union peacekeeping troops, to avoid drawing the U.S. counterterrorism machine into a full-fledged fight, the U.S. officials say. Though headed by hard corps Islamist militants, al-Shabab's more moderate membership has successfully argued to keep the group focused on overthrowing the U.S.-based Somali government, rather than taking on the mantle of al-Qaida's larger war with the west. The group did claim responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Uganda in 2010 that killed more than 70 people, but that was seen as a reaction to Uganda providing the bulk of African peacekeeping forces in Somalia. Similarly, al-Shabab said this weekend's attack was in retribution for Kenyan forces' 2011 push into Somalia. "You reach the population who says the cost we're bearing for this operation in Somalia is too much," said al-Shabab expert Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "From Shabab's calculus, they may well think it's worth inflicting a heavy cost on Kenya," even if it draws U.S. ire. But the scale and technical sophistication of the Nairobi attack could signal a change in alShabab's aspirations, according to Republican Rep. Peter King, possibly increasing the group's direct threat to the United States. King said the State Department had not initially wanted to
declare al-Shabab a terrorist organization because it saw the group focusing on tribal issues within Somalia. It was declared a terror organization in 2008. "Now, we see, by attacking into Kenya they certainly have an international dimension to them," King said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." ''We're talking about very significant terrorist groups here which are showing a capacity to attack outside of their borders and actually recruit people from here in the United States," said King, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. The attack is a recruiting and fundraising shot in the arm for al-Shabab's leader, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, who is working to consolidate power after a year spent eliminating rivals, according to Raffaello Pantucci, who has studied the group for West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. "It's a trifecta for the group," Pantucci said in an interview Sunday. "It brings attention, causes chaos and is successful." Leaving the violence unanswered could be a further boon for the organization. Up until now, President Barack Obama secretly has authorized only two commando raids and at least two drone strikes against the al-Qaida linked terrorists in Somalia, while a small U.S. special operations team has advised African peacekeeping troops, as well as helping build a small elite Somali counterterrorism force, according to two former U.S. military officials familiar with the operations. Two former U.S. counterterrorism officials say the preference has always been to meet specific incidents with a specific response but to avoid getting too deeply involved in the continent of Africa. "The 'don't expand the fight' argument has always won," one said. They said the number of western citizens among the dead and injured in the weekend incident may change the U.S. calculation.
What India can learn
Is this Nairobis 26/11? Striking
parallels with Mumbai attack

Three-day siege, ill-prepared security forces, targetting affluent locations where foreigners gather, Jewish installations, Kalashnikovs -- the similarities with Mumbais terror attack of 2008 are plentiful
FP Staff, September 24, 2013
siege lasting three days, terror-struck citizens cowering in darkened stairwells, making calls to friends and family from ground zero of the attack, attempting to escape through windows, helicopters circling the site of the attack, teams of armed forces personnel and media personnel in readiness outside for anybody who has lived through Mumbais 26/11 terror attack of 2008, the Nairobi siege has to be an eerie reminder.
said at the time could be the template for terrorism of the future. Easier and cheaper than bombs, requiring just a handful of machine guns, plenty of ammo and a few men (and, in Nairobi, at least one woman) willing to die for their cause. And without going on full, permanent lockdown, what can cities do to prevent such an attack?" the report says. While 10 terrorists of the LeT held separate properties in South Mumbai in a siege-like situation for about 60 hours in 2008, Kenyan security forces called the battle at Westgate almost complete on the third day of the siege. Like the Mumbai attacks, the Nairobi gunmen armed with AK 47s stormed a crowded public space spraying gunfire, tossing grenades, killing and wounding dozens and taking hostages before holing themselves up, says an NDTV report, adding that the attackers in either case came from across the border. One of the cafes on the ground floor of the Westgate mall was reportedly owned by Jews and the mall frequented by foreigners. The Mumbai attackers picked the Chabad House too, an orthodox Israeli religious center, in Colaba while also attacking Caf Leopold, another hub for foreign tourists. The Al Qaeda has stated clearly that its attacks will be on affluent hubs where Westerners gather. The Westgate mall was a place frequented by expats working in Kenya. Also, in either case, the terrorists appeared prepared for a two or three-day siege, the night-long sporadic gunfire taking ill-prepared security forces by surprise. While the Mumbia attackers were in touch with their handlers in
Besides the obvious similiarities, there are a few more apart from the fact that the Mumbai perpetrators and the Al Shabab terrorists both have Al Qaeda links, the attackers in both cases had a safe haven in a neighbouring country. A report in The Guardian on the chilling similarities suggests that the November 26 terror attack on key South Mumbai locations could have inspired the Al Shabab attack on the Westgate mall. "Nairobi's gunmen were clearly inspired by the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, which analysts
Pakistan over satellite phones, the latter watching television news updates of the siege, the Nairobi gunmen and their handlers used social media to work up fear and announce their intentions. Here is what a report in Slate says: Meanwhile, the BBCs Frank Gardner says the Westgate attack is similar to the Mumbai siege of 2008, when numerous low-profile targets were attacked with the goal of killing as many civilians as possible. That prompted a complete rethink in counter-terrorism in Britain, with
the realization that the UK was unprepared at the time for such a determined attack, writes Gardner. Increasingly, observers believe that terrorists are commonly using modus operandi first tried out in India. A report in the Times of India points to the use of box cutters to hijack aircraft (common to both Kandahar and 9/11) and serial blasts in trains (Mumbai and London) apart from the Taj Mahal hotel-style siege at Westgate.
Lessons India should learn

With the United States no longer willing to lead the war on terror single-handed, its imperative for India to play a greater role in global counter-terrorism efforts, committing wealthand yes, livesto defend its citizens far from its frontiers.
Nairobi terror attack:
History, wrote Osama bin Laden's mentor, Abdullah Azzam, does not write its lines except with blood. Glory does not build its lofty edifice except with skulls; honour and respect cannot be established except on a foundation of cripples and corpses. Empires, distinguished peoples, states and societies cannot be established except with examples. Indeed those who think that they can change reality, or change societies, without blood, sacrifices and invalids, without pure, innocent souls, then they do not understand the essence of this Din.
Praveen Swami, September 22, 2013 Indian man shot dead at point-blank range because he did not know the name Amina, the prophet Muhammads mother. It should be about this one stark truth: a decade after 9/11, global the jihadist movement is more powerful than at any time in the pastand the world has no clue just how to stamp it out. The Nairobi attacks should be bringing home one lesson to New Delhi policy makers: in a globalised word, Indian nationals and interests are at threat far from the countrys frontiers. In Kenya alone, there are more than 11,000 Indian citizens. With the United States no longer willing to lead the war on terror single-handed, its imperative for India to play a greater role in global counter-terrorism efforts, committing wealthand yes, livesto defend its citizens. FROM a sprawling maze of buildings at Camp Lemmonier, next to the airport in the former French colonial outpost of Djibouti, the United States has been fighting a grim battle against Somalias al-Shabab. Eight Predator drones, eight F-18E bombers, transport jets and some 300 special forces personnel have been operating against jihadist targets. The base in reported to be in the midst of an $1.4billion expansion, which could let it house another 800 commandos. The United States secret war in Somali is less well-known than its campaigns in Afghanistan or Yemenbut its outcome isnt too different, posing hard questions about global counterterrorism efforts.
In Nairobi this grim weekend, the world has again seen men dance to Azzams song of blood: 39 people are dead, and more than 150 injured, at the time of writing; more will die as the day winds by. The big story isn'tor shouldn'tbe about the victims mown down as the attackers, in the words of one witness, threw grenades like maize to chickens. It shouldn't be about the
Ever since 2007, a multinational force called AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia, has been conducting peacekeeping operations with the backing of the United Nations. Led by Ugandas army, AMISOM succeeded in forcing al-Shabab to retreat from Mogadishu, Somalis capital, in 2011. Last year, more than 2,000 Kenyan troops joined hands with a Somali clan to evict al-Shabab from its last urban stronghold, the port town of Kisimayo. Following the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the countrys first proper head of state in 21 years, many experts saw signs of hope. Many angry and disaffected Somalis passively supported al-Shabab, the preeminent scholar of Somalia, Ken Menkhaus wrote, in part because the alternative was so uninspiring. Now that support could evaporate as Somalis rally behind the new government. The evidence that al-Shabab was in retreat seemed persuasive. The organisation became riven through by internal fissures. Following a split last June between key leaders Sheikh Hassan DahirAweysand Ahmed AbdiGodane, frontal fighting broke out. Fighters linked to Godane, who is thought to be resisting alQaedas growing influence, killed their hardline rivals Ibrahim Haji Jama Meadand Abdi Hamid HashiOlhayi. United States-born Omar Hammami, and Osama al-Britani, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, died in similar factional fighting outside Mogadishu. Somalia is a good news story for the region, for the international community, but most especially for the people of Somalia itself, United States assistant secretary of state Johnny Carson told journalists late last year. Not just yet, this weekends carnage makes clear. WHY isnt al-Shabab in retreat, as some had expected? For one, the organisations tactics evolved. Instead of force-on-force fighting with AMISOM, it switched to terrorism. In June, 2009, it staged a suicide bombing targeting the Medina hotel in Beledweyne, following up in December with another strike on a university graduation ceremony in Mogadishu. Then, in July, 2010, it staged its first known transnation-
al strike, killing 74 people watching the football World Cup in Ugandas capital, Kampala. Last summer, 15 people were killed when terrorists hit a church in Kenya. The military strength of al-Shabaab, with an approximately 5,000-strong force, remains arguably intact in terms of operational readiness, chain of command, discipline and communications ability, the United Nations Monitoring Group for Somalia and Eritrea reported last year. By avoiding direct military confrontation, the UN succinctly concluded,it has preserved the core of its fighting force and resources. Even though al-Shabab is riven through by internal fissures, its still succeeded in thriving in a landscape characterised by state collapse, a polity fractured on clan lines, and endemic corruption and warlord-ism. The country has had no functioning government for decades, the consequence of multiple coups, endemic criminality and the disintegration of government. For the global jihadist movement, these failed states are an ideal area in which to expand their influenceto develop pro-states and safe havens, of the kind al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri recently highlighted the need for. The problem is that while the United States is willing to conduct counter-terrorism operations in Somaliatargeting jihadi leaders, and retaliating against plots, for exampleno-one has the resources for long wars of the kind that is winding down in Afghanistan. It certainly no longer had the stomach to attempt nation-building of the kinds it failed to do after 9/11. In recent true, the United States has repeatedly proclaimed al-Qaeda is dying. Al-Qaeda is sort of on the ropes and taking a lot of shots to the body and the head, White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said.Former defence secretary Leon Panetta concurred, arguing that the United States is within reach of strategically defeating" the jihadi group. Thats true:but then, narrowly defined, al-Qaeda was never a huge military threat. At its peak, the organisation had a core of just under 200
cadre120-odd grouped together in a crack unit, and a small number of foot-soldiers handling logistical work and training. Perhaps a thousand men had graduated from the training camps it ran in Afghanistan. Their remnants are under constant pressure. Yet, theres also this: a decade after 9/11, the wider jihadist movement is more powerful than at any time in the past, exercising influence from Mali to Libya and on to Syria and Iraq. Inside Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Taliban has all but defeated the state; in Afghanistan, the outcome of the contestation unleashed after 9/11 is far from clear.. Bin Laden himself, the scholar C.
Christine Fair has noted, has emerged as a kind of Che Guevara of the jihadist movement: an icon important not for the operational role he played, but an inspirational figure. In the decade since 9/11, the dates have multiplied: 13/12, 7/7, 26/11. There will be more and India hasn't done enough to prepare for the next strike on its own soil, let along in distant countries. Yet, this problem cannot be fought by individual nations in their own territories. India need to start thinking about a strategic, global responsejust as its enemies are doing right now.
prevent such attacks in India?

A proper prevention strategy, intelligence collection and capabilities for a professional response can prevent several such incidents.
Ajit Joy, September 23, 2013 he attack by a small group of well armed terrorists at a shopping mall in Nairobi Kenya goes on for the second day with the death toll rising to 68. Security forces, even after 48 hours from the start of the incident, are trying to get to the terrorists and the hostages they hold. This incident is so similar to the Mumbai terrorist attack of 26 November 2008. Who can forget the day when the city and the country was brought to its knees in helplessness for over 72 hours by just 10 well trained terrorists even as the media beamed desperate images in real time. Let us not forget that 164 lives were lost and about twice that injured in Mumbai.
Nairobi mall attack: How can we
need to be prepared to prevent such attacks and if we fail in prevention - to face it professionally. After five years of Mumbai, and in light of the Nairobi attack, we need to review our preparedness. How ready are cities like Chennai, Kochi, Guwahati or Ahmedabad to deal with such emergencies. More importantly, how well are we faring as a nation in preventing such incidents from occurring? Nairobi-rescue-ReutersWell trained, quick reaction security units that can deal with emergency situations ought to be present in major cities ready to reach the spot very quickly. These units should be able to reach other locations at short notice. Local police must have the ability to act intelligently as the first responders. The building plan of the most prominent locations must be with the police and special units. We do have all these in place, but this is useful once we have failed in preventing incidents. However, more than being prepared to face such situations it is important to prevent and pre-empt them. This is possible only with a conscious and educated response by the state and people combined. At every point of vulnerability state authorities need to do their job well, be it an immigration point, border post, the coast guard, customs or police. Lack of professionalism, training and many times owing to corruption, operatives from terror networks are able to cross borders and smuggle in arms and explosives with ease. Certain locations within countries where it is possible for terrorists to get local support need to be especially monitored. Most of such terrorCopyright 2012 Firstpost
Terrorist strategies change fast and one does not know in what form or from where the next attack is going to take place. However, given the wide publicity and effect that this kind of attack in a prominent urban place by a motivated group prepared to give up their own lives has achieved, this model is likely to be used more often by terror groups. From what happened in Mumbai we learnt very painful lessons - that we
ist incidents take place after careful planning and reconnaissance of the target to be attacked. Houses and hotel rooms are hired, vehicles purchased, telephones and sim cards are locally procured. Thus a lot of local contact and preparation goes into an operation which should arouse the suspicion of citizens. For this security consciousness needs to be raised amongst the public. Suspicious people and objects need to be reported. However, this will not happen if the police itself is a corrupt and inefficient organisation - the public does not trust. While improving professionalism of the police, more people oriented policing and community relationships is required especially in sensitive locations. Along with increasing security and preparedness one cannot understate the importance of intelligence collection and surveillance. Recent controversy around the Snowden revelations shows how deeply entrenched and widespread electronic surveillance by some countries have become.
India is quite well advanced in its own electronic surveillance of all kinds of communication. While there needs to be a line between what the state is allowed to see and hear and individual freedoms and privacy, when faced with saving innocent lives security of a nation will have to trump privacy rights. In addition modern day security is also about sharing intelligence with other nations. Our preparedness must also include strong allies in the global intelligence network. While incidents such as the one in Nairobi, or Mumbai may still recur, a proper prevention strategy, intelligence collection and capabilities for a professional response can prevent several such incidents and help in decisive response if it takes place. Ajit Joy has worked in the Indian Police Service and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
is not ready for the next 26/11

Nairobi ought to be a wake up call--but theres no reason to believe its going to wake up a government with a demonstrated ability to ignore fire-alarms going off by its head.
Praveen Swami, September 25, 2013
Lessons from Nairobi: Why India
chool Number 1 opens its doors on Bell Day, the traditional beginning of Russia's school year, but only so parents can walk past the peeling walls, scarred by the graffiti generations of students inflicted on them, through the long corridor lined with the photographs of the children who were killed.
mad Masood Azhar wrote,are essential for crops otherwise they go waste. In the same way, the life of nations depends on martyrs. The national fields can be irrigated only with the blood of the best hearts. Or, perhaps, we'd have found this, from a book written the Islamist tyrant General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's key ideologue Brigadier SK Malik: "terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end in itself". Ever since the still-unfolding horror of the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi, Indians have been remembering 26/11--and asking if it could happen again. Beslan's story holds out this important lesson: 26/11 wasn't the beginning of a new kind of terror, and Nairobi won't be the last we see of it. Like bombs, fidayeen assault teams kill, but the carnage they inflict unfolds over time and in graphic detailmaking the loss of skilled and committed cadre worth bearing for their commanders. For terrorists, killing is a macabre form of performance theatre, that brings both their cause and their willingness to kill for it home to their audienceus. Hit by past fidayeen attacks executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, and facing new threats from the Indian Mujahideen, the question before India's security forces is when, not if. From 26/11, India learned just how badly prepared it was. Mumbai's police control system collapsed in the face of a deluge of panicked, inaccurate
There's no date called 9/1 imprinted on the world's memory, but perhaps there should be. That morning of 1 September, 2004, heavily armed men from jihadist group Riyad ul-Saliheenthe Gardens of the Righteouswalked in through the door of Beslan's school soon after the students and their parents did, and took 1,100 hostages. At the end of a murderous three-day siege, 334 people were dead, 186 of them children--some executed at point-blank range. It isn't possible to look into the minds of the men who carried out the world's most lethal fidayeen terrorist attack, but if we could, perhaps we'd have found words like these: "The light of the sun and water, the jihadist cleric Muham-
information. Key officers failed to administer its emergency-response system, and ill-trained men on the ground proved ineffectual. Even the lite National Security Guard turned out to lack equipment like ballistic shields, hydraulic dooropeners, and hands-free wireless communication equipment. Faced with innovative terrorist tactics, like the use of plain, old-fashioned fire to create a distance between them and police, commanders flailed. In the year since then, police forces have made substantial investments in addressing those problems. Maharashtra's Force1, after a poor beginning, is now rated among the best in the country, ranking alongside the National Security Guard and crack military units in competitive commando exercises. Hyderabad has the 250-strong OCTOPUS force, drawing on the experience of the state's feared counterMaoist Greyhounds. Delhi set up a similar special weapons and tactics units in 2009, initially trained by military experts from India and abroad. The National Security Guard has re-equipped, retrained and set up new centres though there's some criticism its massive expansion has engendered a hierarchical, bureaucratic culture that will make it ineffectual in combat. The bad news is this: it's not enough. For one, there's no police magic-bullet to stop well-equipped attackers willing to kill civilians in crowded public places. Mumbai counter-terrorism drills have shown that while Force1 can be deployed in 20 minutes or less, it can take up to an hour and half for them to reach locations in the city's southern and north-western commercial hubs. Elsewhere in the world, police long ago realised that crack SWAT teams can only be part of the solution. In 1999, teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into their high school building, and opened fire at students inside. The Columbine school shootings sparked off a major rethinking on the best ways to deal with such attacks. Local police had, until Columbine, been taught to cordon-off and contain shooting attacks until SWAT units arrived. SWAT teams were in place outside the school within 40 minutes of the shooting being reported to police,
but it proved too late. From soon after the shootings, police tactics began to change. Instead of containing shooters and calling for specialist help, first responders were taught to immediately engage the attackers. Reuters Reuters Experience has shown this doesn't always work well. Earlier this month, former soldier Alexis Aaron opened fire at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Police responded rapidly, engaging Aaron in a gunbattle within minutes of the killing having begun-but 13 people were already dead. In the 2012 shootings in Aurora, police were at the site within 90 seconds of a crazed gunman opening fire--but even that was too late. Yet, the fact that first responders arrived rapidly probably helped prevent far higher levels of fatalities. It's often forgotten how much ill-trained and unequipped police first-responders actually achieved on 26/11. From the interrogation of Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, it's clear that railway police guards who returned fire using aging bolt-action rifles led his two-man assault team to drop its plans to take hostages, and instead head out to the Cama Hospital--leading to his eventual capture. Policemen holed up in the luxury apartments behind the National Centre for the Performing Arts pinned down the terrorists at the Oberoi and Trident Hotels. And inside the Taj itself, police put up a fight which, though relatively ineffectual, probably saved more than a few lives. This was done by officers and men who had never seen hostile fire in their lives. "The government should be focusing on upgrading the skills of first-responders", argues Ajai Sahni, the director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. "We just don't have a national template for improving basic police training, and that's a fatal flaw". It isn't, of course, the only fatal flaw. Firstpost has earlier reported massive deficits in the Intelligence Bureau's staffing and training, which
constrains its capacity to pre-empt terror attacks. Police human resource shortages haven't been plugged, despite promises made by the government in 2008. Hotels and malls have posted guards, but few have worthwhile training or equipment. In all major cities, cars entering public spaces are checked for explosives using a metal detector, or a cursory glance, both pointless exercises. Just days after the recent bombing of the Bodh Gaya
temple, Firstpost's sister television network, CNN-IBN, succeeded in infiltrating mock pressure cooker bombs past security at threatened places of worship. Nairobi ought to be a wake up call--but there's no reason to believe it's going to wake up a government with a demonstrated ability to ignore fire-alarms going off by its head.
The impact on Nairobi and Kenya
Westgate massacre:
Remembering a happy Nairobi
I have been in a trance, for the last three days, too shocked at what is happening in Nairobi. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya that was our home till we left it 3 weeks ago, is under siege. It feels as if our backyard has been bombed.
Mintu Mohan, September 24, 2013 Planet Yogurt. Nakumatt, the only big supermarket chain in East Africa, owned by a Kenyan Indian, was our one stop shopping destination in spite of the high prices. Indians dominated Westlands, where Westgate mall is located and the nearby Parklands area. At any time, a good percentage of shoppers in Westgate would be in sari or salwar kameez or the traditional dress of the Bohra community. These are Indians who have lived in Kenya for generations and have made it their home but have held on to the traditions of their ancestors. A lot of businesses in the area are also owned by these Indians. When we moved to Nairobi in August 2012, our Africa dreams had finally materialised. The dream that we both had nurtured for many years by watching the twinkle in the eyes of friends who had lived in Africa and reading Wilbur Smith, was just coming true. From the moment we landed in Kenya the warnings and advice started pouring in - don't go here, don't go there, don't drive at night, don't walk on the streets, always keep windows rolled up in the car and so on. Incessant warnings, security briefings, daily emails and text messages on security situation and horror stories from people who have been there for years were part of the daily routine. But none of this deterred us from getting out and exploring this country that is blessed in abundance with natural beauty. Along the way, I also came to love Kenyans who are among the most polite, hearty and jovial people I have come across.
have been in a trance, for the last three days, too shocked at what is happening in Nairobi. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya that was our home till we left it 3 weeks ago, is under siege. It feels as if our backyard has been bombed.
Westgate mall was the only glitzy mall in the city of Nairobi, at least in the area with maximum concentration of expats and Kenyans of Indian origin. This is where all the action is now. Even though I claim to hate malls and detest everything they stand for, I guess we all get drawn to this artificial cocoon like flies to light, so much so that even we the wannabe socialists end up there more often than we like.
We lived 10 minutes away from Westgate, so close that I have sneaked out to catch movies with my husband during his lunch breaks from the office. We were regulars on Tuesdays to the Pizza Inn to enjoy the 2 for the price of 1 offer and afterwards to have yogurt ice cream at
Kenyans love to talk. If I paused long enough with the fruit and vegetable sellers at the market,theywould start to chat me up, enquiring about family, where I am from, how many kids I have and whether I plan to "add " more. I particularly enjoyed the Kenyan English used by local people where they often added difficult words into everyday language. On asking for directions to a guard once I got " Madam, proceed straight, negotiate the curve to the right..." Our 365 days in Nairobi, which I think we utilised to the fullest by visiting each and every safari park and any place of interest, was not marred by a single bad experience even though burglaries and car jacking abounded. The only instance when we were in a situation was when our car got bogged in Lake Nakuru. The first van that came along stopped and the driver helped us call for help and he waited till our vehicle was pulled out and we were on our way, even though it was getting late and he had clients with him. Sitting here thinking back on the time spent in Westgate, I am surprised that I remember so many faces. I wonder if these faces I know are safe. We had gone to enjoy the succulent burgers at Urban, the newly opened burgerplace and I remember being served on both our visits by this thin tall girl with a wide smile. Urban was the first shop at the main entrance and people sat on the verandah enjoying the open air were apparently the first to be hit by bullets! In our last weeks in the city, I was in Nakumatt almost every other day to deal with some issue with our VAT refund so much so that I still can see the face of the customer service officer who helped me sort it out; the kind lady at
the counter of Kazuri bead shop who patiently let me browse through each and every piece in her shop over a few weeks till I mustered the courage to pick up one of their exorbitantly priced necklaces; and the Indian lady in Salwar Kameez, who would sell 250 Ksh (Rs 175) scoops of sinful delight from her gelato counter on the ground floor. There were several such small counters scattered all over the mall selling Kenyan and Ethiopian handicrafts or mobile accessories. I shudder to think that those sellers might have been in the direct line of fire. I did hear back from a lot of my friends saying they are safe, but in a year one meets a lot of people and Nairobi is a small town and the expat community, really tiny. Every moment I am getting flashes of faces I have met and I pray that they survived. Each friend who wrote to me had a tale of miracle, where one family didn't go for their routine Saturday lunch only because the husband unexpectedly had to work. Another one cancelled a dental appointment because her son had a match in school, and yet another friends son had a lunch date at the Art Caf which thankfully got cancelled because the friend saw his message too late.Art Caf is a coffee shop chain that is extremely popular with the expat crowd and at no time have I seen it empty. The seating here spills onto the verandah space next to Urban. I am glad that my friends in Kenya are not directly affected. I am glad that I am far away in another continent,but the question lingers will the quaint Nairobi be the same again? Mintu Mohan is a former resident of Nairobi.
people who made Westgate special

I think of the individuals whose lives touched mine. Every time I went to Westgate.
My Nairobi: Remembering the
Jayapriya Vasudevan, September 25, 2013 ways ready with a jambo, how are you today The guard at the bank. He wore a plastic helmet. And I often wondered how that would protect him. It probably made him feel better and probably didnt protect him at all. The girls at Dormans caf. They knew that I hated takeaway cups and would allow me to take a ceramic cup which I return on the way out. The ever smiling man at Nakumatt. Who would put away my groceries meticulously. So that the eggs wouldnt break. And the milk wouldnt spill. The people at the parking ticket counter. Laughing because I never got it right. Either my money would roll out without the ticket or the ticket would be stuck inside. They would smile and help. These are all people who made ME feel protected. Made my life better. Made me smile. These are also probably the first people to have been killed. I think about them. I cry for their lost lives and worry for their families. But they will be remembered. Always. Jayapriya Vasudevan is founder and managing partner of Jacaranda Literary Agency. She lives in Nairobi with her husband and daughter.
ve lived in many places. Moved often. And finally found a happy home in Singapore. Or so I thought. About a year ago, I was told that we were moving to Africa. To Kenya. Nairobi. I was terrified at the mere thought of the move. And could only think of muggings and car jackings.
What I found instead was a warm and welcoming country. With friendly people who love music, laugh a lot and take pleasure in the simplest of things. I found home. Yes, there are security issues. Just as they are pretty much anywhere. We were away for the weekend. In a remote place with very limited phone signals. A chance SMS from a friend alerted me to the fact that something terrible had happened in Nairobi. Nothing prepared me for what it really is. The utterly senseless act of terrorism in a place that is familiar to almost anyone who lives in Nairobi. As details unfold of what really happened. And what continues to happen. I feel bereft. Not in a large look-at-the-number-of-people-whodied sense. But I think of the individuals whose lives touched mine. Every time I went to Westgate. The security guys at the main gate. Always trying to get us to put a Westgate sticker on the car. In return, umbrellas and car fresheners would be offered. I enjoyed our little conversations. The lady at the entrance of the mall who checked my handbag. Always respectful. And al-
Will Nairobi terror attack spell
doom for Kenyas economy?

Nairobis Westgate Shopping Mall, site of Saturdays mass shootings where 68 people have been reported killed, might as well have been a mall in the US or Europe.
AP, September 23, 2013 tor, focused around Nairobi.
ew York: Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall, site of Saturday's mass shootings where 68 people have been reported killed, might as well have been a mall in the US or Europe.
It is not clear how the attack in Nairobi will impact the country's economic prospects, at least in the near term. However, a significant percent of Kenya's economy relies on tourists, Kenyan consumers could buy shoes from brands who travel thousands of miles to go on safari such as Nike, Adidas or Converse, or visit Samthrough Kenya's Great Rift Valley and other sung's store and buy a new smartphone. When wildlife reserves. Approximately 1.8 million hungry, a shopper could buy frozen yogurt or sit tourists visited Kenya in 2011, primarily from down for sushi. Europe and the United States, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Tourism Before it became the site of Saturday's mass kill- from China and India has also grown in recent ings, the five-story Westgate mall highlighted years. the sub-Saharan nation's status as a regional commercial hub and its growing economic forPrevious political instability or terrorist attacks tunes. in the country have typically negatively impacted Kenya's travel industry. After a disputed Civilians being rescued from the Westgate Mall. presidential election in 2008, where 1,200 KenAP. yans died in ethnic clashes, tourism dropped by Civilians being rescued from the Westgate Mall. more than 30 percent, according to the counAP. try's National Bureau of Statistics. Similar dropKenya's economy has seen steady growth since offs in tourism occurred following the 1998 U.S. 2002, averaging between 4 and 5 percent per embassy bombing in Nairobi. year, according to the World Bank. Kenya's economy briefly slowed down during the 2008 Long term, the World Bank and other economic global economic downturn, but recovered organizations say Kenya's economic prospects quickly. The country's economy is expected to are good. A British oil company recently discovgrow nearly 6 percent this year, according to the ered significant oil deposits in Turkana County, International Monetary Fund, and the Nairobi located northeast of Nairobi. After decades of Stock Exchange is up 21 percent in the last 12 importing its energy needs, Kenya is on track to months. be an oil exporter starting in 2016. "Kenya's economic gains over the past few years are impressive, particularly coming as they have in a context of global weakness and uncertainty," said Antoinette Sayeh, director of the African division of the International Monetary Fund, in a Sept. 17 speech in Nairobi. The country also has a growing technology secWhile there has been significant progress, Kenya is still considered a low-income developing economy. Roughly four out of 10 Kenyans live in poverty, according to the World Bank, mostly in the country's rural areas.
Terrorism in cyberspace
police battle it out on Twitter

Even as the standoff between Kenyan troops and al-Shabab militants entered its fourth day inside the high end Westgate mall, another proxy war - one on information- was being fought on cyber space.
Associated Press, September 24, 2013
Outside Westgate mall, al-Shabab,
ven as the standoff between Kenyan troops and al-Shabab militants entered its fourth day inside the high end Westgate mall, another proxy war - one on information- was being fought on cyber space. In a new Twitter feed established Tuesday after previous ones were cut off, al-Shabab said the attack that began Saturday and has claimed more than 60 lives so far was "far greater than how the Kenyans perceive it."
the terrorist threat. "Troops now in mop up operations in the building," the police tweeted. "More to follow. Be calm." The al-Shabab group have been constantly updating their various Twitter feeds with information about their attack, with new accounts being created in place of those being deleted by the microblogging service. A policy report published by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) had documented al-Shabab's social media approach in a paper, which can be accessed in its full form here. The paper explained how al-Shabab is using social media to "market" itself to potential followers in other countries in a way that other jihadist groups have not done. The paper explains: "Al-Shabaab has become adept at producing material that provides its Western followers with an alternative to mainstream media. Relying heavily on digital video and Twitter, the group projects an image of itself as an effective and united force carrying out the will of God by implementing Shariah and fighting the enemies of Islam. Twitter has allowed the group to do much of this in real time, offering supporters instant interpretations of events and rebuttals of critiques." Authorities have said they are involved in a final push to clear out the remaining attackers. But authorities have previously referred to their operations as final. And despite the Kenyan
"There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the mujahideen are still holding their ground," the group claimed. It added that the hostages are "still alive looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive." The Kenyan police responded with a Twitter message of its own, urging people to ignore "enemy... propaganda" and assuring that the defense forces were continuing to "neutralize"
government assurances of success, an explosion and gunfire could be heard coming from the mall at around 6:30 am, followed by the sustained chatter of automatic weapons for about a minute almost three hours later, according to Associated Press reporters at the scene. Security forces carried a body out of the mall, which remained on fire, with flames and smoke visible. A Kenyan soldier wearing bomb disposal protective gear also exited the building.
While the government announced Sunday that "most" hostages had been released, a security expert with contacts inside the mall said at least 10 were still being held by a band of attackers described as "a multinational collection from all over the world." Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said "two or three Americans" and "one Brit" were among those who attacked the mall.
broadcast their attack on Twitter

Each time Twitter shut the account down a total of five times, according to a US-based security analyst al-Shabab started a new feed.
Live tweeting terror: How al-Shabab
s the deadly attack unfolded inside Kenya's Westgate mall, the militants who claimed responsibility for the spreading mayhem sent out tweet after tweet, taunting the Kenyan military, defending the mass killings and threatening more bloodshed. Each time Twitter shut the account down a total of five times, according to a US-based security analyst al-Shabab started a new feed. The sixth account included a post on Tuesday linking to a photo that purported to be two of the attackers "unruffled and strolling around the mall in such sangfroid manner" and mocking Kenya's security forces for their repeated assurances over two days also tweeted that the siege was nearly over.
Associated Press, September 24, 2013 amplified by its social media savvy. "The person who runs their Twitter account has obviously invested a lot of energy in the process of grabbing headlines, and for Shabab, the account allows them to amplify the message that they wish to send with the attack itself," Berger told The Associated Press. The al-Shabab message, at least according to the tweets, appeared directed at the international community and Kenya specifically to leave Somalia to the militant Islamic group. But there may have been a broader message, analysts say: Al-Shabab has allied itself with al-Qaeda's global message and its global war. Berger, who has called out al-Shabab before for violating Twitter's terms of service, did so again after the attack began on Saturday, announced by gunshots, grenades and the group's chosen hashtag, #Westgate. The account was closed. A new feed opened, the handle sent to journalists on the al-Shabab email list, with crisp assurances tweeted back to users who requested their names be added. But as the death toll rose and images were broadcast worldwide of the terror, which included a bloodied woman and terrified children, the group found itself roundly condemned the tweets became more defensive: "Mujahideen have no desire to kill women & children and have done everything practically possible to evacuate them before attacking #Westgate." The communications onslaught, which included back and forth tweets with Kenya's security forces, had police at one point appealing to "all Kenyans to ignore the propaganda of those intent on dividing us and breaking us down."
It wasn't the first time al-Shabab has live-tweeted a terrorist attack, according to JM Berger, a US based terrorism analyst who monitors the group's online presence. The militants offered comments in real time or nearly so in recent attacks in Mogadishu and the attempted assassination of the Somali president. But the drawnout Kenya attack, which left at least dozens dead, brought the group to a much wider stage,
Interestingly, the group's message in the Somali language social media was slightly different and tailored to a more domestic audience than the largely English-language Twitter feeds, said Cedric Barnes, a Nairobi-based analyst for Crisis Group. "Part of the reason might be to align itself more with the international struggle rather than the Somali-centric war," Barnes said. The attack and propaganda efforts show "how sophisticated Shabab is but also some of the networks that assisted in this. It's incredibly cynical but quite deliberate." Twitter has not explained why it shut down the accounts, but it prohibits "direct, specific threats of violence against others." The Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, said al-Shabab had been closed down five times, with the sixth account opening Tuesday a tally that roughly coincided with AP's count of recent shutdowns of their account. But if al-Shabab was having a hard time staying ahead of email and Twitter administrators, Kenya's government was having at least as hard a time with its own message. "They've really been a model for poor crisis communication. Shabab was further able to sap their credibility by undermining their claims," said Daveed Gartenstein Ross, an al-Shabab expert with the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Gartenstein Ross drew parallels with the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, India, which lasted three days and nearly as long as the one in Kenya unfolded before the eyes of millions of television viewers. In that case, 10 gunmen laid siege to India's financial hub, leaving 166 people dead and a host of questions about their motives and identities. The government response on Twitter was found wanting: Reuters image The government response on Twitter was found wanting: Reuters image A more recent parallel is the days long hostage taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, when Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida broadcast
real-time accounts of what was happening inside via a Mauritanian news service known for ties to the group. In that case as in Kenya the militants' account ended up being more open than the Algerian government's reassurances and downplaying of the death toll, which climbed to more than three dozen hostages in the four-day standoff. Al-Shabab is a different, more aggressively public organization, analysts say. Its militants eagerly claimed responsibility in Kenya as they have for multiple attacks in Somalia, their base. The fear that spread across Nairobi as well as al-Shabab's decision to go public immediately was calculated by a group whose name means "The Youth" in Arabic. Al-Shabab said the mall attack was in retribution for Kenyan forces' 2011 push into neighboring Somalia. African Union forces pushed the al-Qaeda-affiliated group out of Somalia's capital in 2011. "As an operation itself, it caused chaos, it's made the Kenyans look bad, it's inflicted a cost upon the civilian population. They got their message out to the world for several days," Gartenstein Ross said. He said it would be appropriate if Twitter continued to shut down al-Shabab, an opinion not shared by everyone in the intelligence community, which values many public communications as insight into terror groups. But he said it came with costs. After the first few times the account was shut down, a series of fake Twitter feeds sprang up, all purporting to be speaking for al-Shabab and carrying false information about the attack. That added to confusion in the first two days of the siege, but Gartenstein Ross said neither alShabab nor Twitter was to blame, emphasizing that people need to become more discriminating about their social media sources. "It's not like there's a natural right to having a Twitter feed again. When you become a mass murderer, you forsake some rights. Perhaps having a Twitter feed is one of those," he said. Berger, whose own efforts to thwart al-Qaeda
online and keep terror groups from posting threats have gotten some attention in the recent past, said there are good reasons to take them down this time around. "By knocking them down over and over again, Twitter kept them from collecting many thousands of followers that it would have kept for
the long haul. It is likely impossible and possibly undesirable to permanently deny them the use of services like Twitter," he wrote in an email exchange with The Associated Press. "But there are good reasons to weed a garden, even if we can never fully eradicate weeds."
Demolition by Kenyan forces killed
137 in Westgate mall: Al Shabab

In a Tweet on Wednesday from an account believed to be genuine, al-Shabab also claimed that having failed to defeat the mujahideen inside the mall, the Kenyan govt disseminated chemical gases to end the siege.
Associated Press, September 25, 2013 will likely rise. Estimates varied between only a few bodies to dozens of bodies possibly still inside the mall. In another development, a British man was arrested in Kenya following the terrorist attack, Britain's Foreign Office said. The agency said in a statement Wednesday that British officials are ready to provide assistance to the man. Officials would not provide his name or details. He is believed to be in his 30s. Britain's Daily Mail newspaper said he was arrested Monday as he tried to board a flight from Nairobi to Turkey with a bruised face and while acting suspiciously. President Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation the night before the terrorists had been defeated and declared three days of national mourning beginning on Wednesday.
airobi, Kenya: The militant group behind the takeover of a Nairobi mall claimed Wednesday that Kenyan government assault team carried out "a demolition" of the building, burying 137 hostages in rubble. A government spokesman denied the claim and said Kenyan forces were clearing all rooms, firing as they moved and encountering no one.
In a series of tweets from a Twitter account believed to be genuine, al-Shabab also said that "having failed to defeat the mujahideen inside the mall, the Kenyan govt disseminated chemical gases to end the siege." It did not specify which gases, which could theoretically include anything from tear gas to poison. Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu told The Associated Press that no chemical weapons were used, that the collapse of floors in the mall was caused by a fire set by the terrorists and that the official civilian death toll remains 61. "Al-Shabab is known for wild allegations and there is absolutely no truth to what they're saying," he said. But officials said the death count
Esipisu said floors of the mall collapsed after a fire started by the al-Shabab attackers caused structural weakness in a 3rd floor parking lot, which then came down onto the second floor and brought it down onto the first, or ground floor. He said there were known to be eight civilians in the rubble, which were included in the government's official death estimate. There could be several terrorists also buried, he said. At the mall Wednesday morning, gunshots could be heard. Esipisu said they were from Kenyan forces going room to room in the large Westgate Mall, firing protectively before entering unknown territory. "During sanitization once you take control of the place if you go to a room where you haven't
visited before you shoot first to make sure you aren't walking into an ambush," he said. "But there hasn't been any gunfire from the terrorists for more than 36 hours." The Kenyan government said forensic experts from the United States, Britain and Israel would be assisting them in their investigation of the attack. "The mall is sealed off. It is a crime scene," Esipisu said. The process of retrieving bodies from inside the mall still had not begun Wednesday morning possibly indicating that the situation was not yet considered secure though a city morgue official said his workers were preparing to go into the building soon. The attack claimed by Somali militant group al-Shabab killed at least 61 civilians, six security officers and five extremists, the president said. Another 175 people were injured, including more than 60 who remain hospitalized. Fears persisted that some of the attackers could still be alive and loose inside the rubble of the mall, a vast complex that had shops for retailers like Bose, Nike and Adidas, as well as banks, restaurants and a casino. A high-ranking security official involved in the investigations said it would take time to search the whole mall before declaring that the terrorist threat had been crushed. That official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss information not publicly disclosed. Eleven other suspects have been taken into custody, and Esipisu said: "At this at this point
the interrogations are ongoing and I can't reveal any of the details." Al-Shabab, whose name means "The Youth" in Arabic, first began threatening Kenya with a major terror attack in late 2011, after Kenya sent troops into Somalia following a spate of kidnappings of Westerners inside Kenya. The al-Shabab extremists stormed the mall on Saturday, throwing grenades and firing on civilians. The group used Twitter to say that Somalis have been suffering at the hands of Kenyan military operations in Kenya, and the mall attack was revenge. "You could have avoided all this and lived your lives with relative safety," the group Tweeted Tuesday. "Remove your forces from our country and peace will come." The militants specifically targeted non-Muslims, and at least 18 foreigners were among the dead, including six Britons, as well as citizens from France, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Peru, India, Ghana, South Africa and China. Five Americans were among the wounded. The mall attack was the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 al-Qaida truck bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, which killed more than 200 people. Security officials in Nairobi always knew that Westgate, which was popular with foreign residents of the capital as well as tourists and wealthy Kenyans, was a likely target for terror attacks.
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Table of contents

Kenyas 26/11 at Westgate mall

The Indian connection to the tragedy

Who were the attackers

What India can learn

The impact on Nairobi and Kenya

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Kenyas 26/11 at Westgate mall

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Kenyan troops rescue 1,000 people, but at least 59 dead

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Photos from the mall attack

Some of the victims of the Nairobi terror attack: Reuters

Civilians escape an area at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi: Reuters

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Mall employees leave their shops to safety: Reuters

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Nairobi eye-witness: Civilians

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The Indian connection to the tragedy

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Nairobi tragedy, then Indian red

tape: Ordeal of victims kin

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Indian RJ among victims

Kenya mall attack: Pregnant

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Nairobi mall attack: Malayalam film crew escapes by a whisker

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Nairobi attack: A list of victims

who died in Westgate mall

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Who were the attackers

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Who are al Shabab, the Islamist

terror group that attacked

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Al Shabab: Who are its Al Qaeda leaders,

Western faces, foreign commanders

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Nairobi mall attack: Who is the

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emerge more vociferous than ever

After Nairobi attack, Al Shabab could

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Kenya attacks: US under pressure to

mount action against al-Shabab

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What India can learn

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Is this Nairobis 26/11? Striking

parallels with Mumbai attack

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Lessons India should learn

Nairobi terror attack:

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prevent such attacks in India?

Nairobi mall attack: How can we

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is not ready for the next 26/11

Lessons from Nairobi: Why India

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