AFRICA/KENYA – End of the siege at the mall in Nairobi. Cardinal Njue visits the wounded

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - "Life is sacred and no one has the right to take it. We need to respect the sanctity of life", said Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi during his visit to the people who were injured in the siege at the Westgate Mall, and were admitted to two hospitals in the Kenyan capital.
Even the Supreme Council of Muslims in Kenya (SUPKEM) condemned the serious act of terrorism, according to reports from the CISA Agency in Nairobi. "We condemn in the strongest terms the attack against peaceful Kenyans and international guests who live and work in Kenya", said Adan Wachu, Secretary General of SUPKEM. "We condemn the indiscriminate killing of men, women and innocent children. It is against all the teachings and Islamic precepts".
After 4 days the Kenyan special forces are in fact able to regain control of the building. The provisional toll of the assault is 67 dead, 61 of whom are civilians, but different bodies still lie in the building partially destroyed, while bomb disposal teams are proceeding with the remediation of any explosive devices scattered by the Shabaab.
According to the newspaper "The Nation" in Nairobi, the operations to release the hostages were particularly complex, because the terrorists had taken control of the camera system inside the Mall, through which they could control the presence of special forces. Only after that the security services managed to "hack" the camera system inside via information technology, the command of the army managed to enter the building. Thanks to a diversionary maneuver the gunman, who seems to have been the terrorist leader, was then shot dead by a sniper of the army, allowing the military to enter the building. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/09/2013)


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