3 gunmen dead in mall endgame

NAIROBI: Kenyan security forces killed three militants as they sought to end a siege of an upscale shopping mall in the capital, Nairobi, in which 69 people died and an unknown number were taken hostage.
Police and army officials occupy every level of the four-story Westgate Mall and the operation to flush out the remaining gunmen and rescue those held captive may end “soon,” Interior Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku told reporters Monday. More than 10 suspects have been arrested for questioning, the Interior Ministry said, without providing further details.
“Evacuating hostages has gone on very well,” Ole Lenku said after explosions and sporadic bursts of automatic gunfire were heard at the building this afternoon. “We are very certain that they are very, very few hostages if any in the building.”
A series of large explosions and gunfire rocked the upscale mall at about 1:15 p.m. Monday. Shortly afterward, dozens of soldiers, some of them carrying heavy machine guns, and an army tank were seen at the main access road to the complex as thick black smoke billowed from the building.
The attackers had set fire to Nakumatt, a retail store, in the mall to create a distraction and possibly escape, Karangi said. Authorities have surrounded the building, he said. “The risk for an attack on Westgate or another of Nairobi’s upscale malls was high and well known, but also very difficult to prevent entirely.”
An Indian man was shot when he failed to answer a question on Islam asked by the militants.
The heavily armed militants of Al-Shabab were reportedly trying to weed out non-Muslims for execution by interrogating people on their faith or asking them to recite the “Shahada.”
On the second floor of the mall, Joshua Hakim saw gunmen, some of whom appeared to be teenagers, strapped with ammunition belts and carrying AK-47 assault rifles. “They were firing indiscriminately, they shot a lot of people,” he said.
During a lull in the firing, the attackers called out for Muslims to identify themselves and leave, The Guardian quoted Hakim as saying.
Covering the Christian name on his ID with his thumb, Hakim approached one of the attackers and showed them the plastic card.
“They told me to go. Then an Indian man came forward and they said, ‘What is the name of (Prophet) Muhammad’s (pbuh) mother?’ When he couldn’t answer they just shot him,” he said. It was not clear from the report whether the Indian was injured or fatally shot.