09/24/2013, 00.00
KENYA - ISLAM
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Westerners involved in Nairobi mall attack

According to the Kenyan government , the names of some young Americans and a British woman in the al- Shabab command. The security forces now control the building, but it is not clear how many terrorists and hostages still inside. Death toll unchanged.

Nairobi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - "Two or three Americans and a British woman were among the attackers" on the Westgate mall in Nairobi according to the Kenyan foreign minister , Amina Mohamed.  The announcment came late on Monday, when the government security forces had taken control of all floors of the mall. "The terrorists can run away and hide in stores - the Interior Minister , Joseph Ole Lenku added speaking to BBC news, - but there is no way out ."

At the end of the fighting yesterday, are at least three terrorists were killed, while some of the hostages escaped from the building told the Kenyan authorities about the presence of a western woman and 3 Americans within the command of al- Shabab. "We are fighting a form of global terrorism - said the military commander Julius Karangi - the bombers come from different nationalities."

Nearly 3 days after the beginning of the siege, the toll provided by the local Red Cross remains unchanged, although it is not yet possible to say with certainty how many hostages are in the hands of the terrorists. At least 18 foreign nationals , many of them are Westerners, have been confirmed among the victims.

The attack at the Westgate mall, claimed by the Somali terrorist group al- Shabaab - affiliated with al - Qaeda - is an act of retaliation against the government in Nairobi for its armed intervention in Somalia. In 2011, in fact, the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, who lost a nephew in the attack, deployed 4 thousand men, on behalf of the African Union, to counter the attempt to establish the al- Shabaab Islamist state in the south of the country . "This is undoubtedly an anti- Western and anti -Christian attack - said the former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell - but it is also the manifestation of a deep-seated hatred of the people against bad governance that characterizes many countries in the region , in which a small group of people attempt to divide the wealth . "

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