west gate

Kenyan court to rule on shopping mall attack case

A court is Kenya is set to pass judgement in the case of three men charged with helping armed militants launch an attack on a shopping mall the capital, Nairobi, in 2013.

This is the only trial in connection with the attack.

At least 67 people died in the assault on the upmarket Westgate shopping complex.

Somalia-based Islamist militants al-Shabab said they carried out the attack. The state said the attackers involved were dead.

More than 140 witnesses testified in the case, in which the accused persons denied conspiring to commit terrorism.

A conviction will encourage a country that remains on high alert over possible terrorist attacks, and whose military is still in Somalia fighting al-Shabab from their bases.

UPDATE

Defendants in Kenya shopping mall attack case in court

The three men charged with helping armed militants launch an attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in 2013 have arrived in court, according to a journalist covering the trial.

Here are some key points about the attack:

  • The siege in September 2013 lasted for four days
  • Sixty-two civilians, five security officers and the four attackers died
  • Initially the authorities said there had been 10 attackers, but then revised the figure down to four. They said all of them had been killed but forensic tests on their remains have never been released
  • Rivalry between police and military forces was pointed out as a factor that hindered the response
  • Since the attack there has been better coordination and response
  • This helped in the response to the Dusit hotel and office complex attack in January 2019 when 21 people died
  • In April 2015 four gunmen stormed Garissa University College and killed 148 people, most of them students

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