This is the horrifying moment one of the terrorists in the Kenyan
shopping centre attack levelled his gun at cowering hostages, ready to
execute them.
The attacker, wearing a camouflage jacket and
facemask, points a handgun at customers in a bank as they lie under a
counter with their hands around their heads.
The CCTV pictures were taken inside the Diamond Trust Bank on the ground
floor of the Westgate shopping mall in the early stages of the hostage
crisis.
Another picture shows three fighters brandishing rifles at the entrance
to the shopping centre, one of them apparently wearing a traditional
Islamic robe and pointing at a figure cowering in the corner.
In other images, women and children are shown on the roof of the
building among the blood-stained bodies of the dead and injured.
The group is thought to include families who were attending a cookery
demonstration by a TV chef Ruhila Adatia-Sood, who was six months
pregnant and died in the attack.
They were eventually rescued by the Red Cross, who arrived with stretchers as the terrorists moved inside the building.
For many it was their choice of hiding place that made the difference
between death or survival. Some security camera footage shows gunmen
raking toilet cubicles with gunfire, apparently after learning that
people were hiding inside.
Other attackers took the time to divide Muslims from non-Muslims after
demanding that some recite the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith.
A man trapped inside the shopping centre told The Mail on Sunday he had a clear view of a woman brandishing a sniper rifle.
Achebe Odida, 42, a glass engraver, described how he hid under the
counter of a mobile phone shop as the shooting began and raised his head
to look out of the window.
‘I saw a woman wearing a black headscarf and a black shawl over a pink top and black trousers,’ he said.
‘While shoppers were running and screaming through the mall, she moved
slowly and calmly to take up position behind a pillar. She looked like a
Somali woman, tall and slender with dark skin.’
He saw her brandishing the rifle as if to take aim, but did not see her shooting anyone.
The Kenyans have yet to announce how many terrorists were involved in
the atrocity. They say five were killed in the shopping centre and it
is unclear whether the eight people they currently have under arrest
were detained at the scene or elsewhere.
The siege developed into
a hostage drama with Al Shabaab claiming civilians were being held but
if there were hostages, it is unclear what became of them.
In one section of the shopping centre, three floors collapsed, making the search for them difficult and dangerous.
The collapse was caused
by Kenyan soldiers firing rocket-propelled grenades into the
building, according to a senior official, raising questions about the
effectiveness of the rescue operation.
Soldiers and police were
said to have been arguing over who was in charge. Some of the heroes
of the operation were private security guards and relatives called by
those hiding inside.
Presidential spokesman
Manoah Esipisu did not comment on the cause of the collapse but said
structural engineers were examining the building.
The Kenyan authorities
have insisted that all the dead are accounted for, although the Red
Cross says it has reports of 71 missing, as well as the official tally
of 67. The Foreign Office said another Briton was among the dead,
putting the total back up to six, after one man was discovered to have
been Kenyan.
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