Abuja: Two Indians were among 68 people killed by heavily armed Somali Islamist militants who stormed a packed mall in Nairobi and engaged in fierce fighting with Kenyan soldiers backed by Israeli special forces trying to rescue about 30 hostages and end the bloody siege that entered a second day on Monday.
At least 68 people are now confirmed to have been killed in an ongoing Nairobi shopping mall siege, Kenya Red Cross said today, after nine more bodies were recovered.
Four Indians, including two women and a girl, were among nearly 200 people injured in the brazen attack on the part Israeli-owned Westgate centre launched by al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group on Sunday.
There were conflicting reports about the number of militants inside the four-storey mall, with Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenkua saying there were 10 to 15 heavily armed men while some witnesses said they had seen only four men in black, their heads covered in scarves.
Kenyan government and Western diplomatic sources said the militants were holding about 30 hostages. Helicopters were seen circling overhead and there was a strong military presence in and around the mall.
Israeli special forces were on Monday at the scene and working with their Kenyan counterparts in the hostage crisis, Kenyan government sources were quoted as saying by CNN.
As the gunfire continued, troops evacuated over 1,000 people from the centre after the masked militants launched the deadliest assault since al-Qaeda bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing over 200 people.
“We still have hostages in the mall, and this makes the operation delicate. We have 59 people who have been killed so far,” Interior Minister Lenku said earlier. Nearly 200 people were wounded in the attack and Lenku said 175 people had been taken to hospital.
Two Indians, including an 8-year-old boy, were killed and four other community members injured in the attack, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi.
The dead Indians were identified as 40-year-old Sridhar Natarajan, employee of a pharmaceutical firm, and Paramshu Jain, son of a manager of the local Bank of Baroda branch.
The injured Indians are Natarajan’s wife Manjula Sridhar, Paramshu Jain’s mother Mukta Jain, 12-year-old Poorvi Jain and Natarajan Ramachandran, an employee of Flamingo Duty Free. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday condemned the attack in a letter to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and said the incident is “a stark reminder that the persisting menace of terrorism remains a formidable challenge that calls for a concerted and sustained response from the global community”.
I was deeply shocked and saddened by the brutal terror attack yesterday on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi…India condemns in the strongest terms this heinous and senseless assault, which has snuffed out so many innocent lives, including nationals of both our countries,” Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said. Prime Minister Singh directed the External Affairs Ministry to extend all help to Indian nationals who were victims of the attack, and offered assistance to Kenyan authorities to deal with the situation. (PTI)