On 21 September 2013, four gunmen attacked the Westgate shopping mall, an upmarket mall in Nairobi, Kenya. There are conflicting reports about the number killed in the attack, since part of the mall collapsed due to a fire that started during the siege. The attack resulted in 71 total deaths, including 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers, and all four gunmen. Approximately 200 people were wounded in the attack.
The militant Islamist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the incident, which it characterised as retribution for the Kenyan military's deployment in the group's home country of Somalia following Operation Linda Nchi from 2011 to 2012.
Kenyan authorities arrested dozens of people in the aftermath of the attack, but had not announced any suspects directly related to the siege. On 4 November 2013, a Kenyan court charged four Somali nationals with harbouring the gunmen in their homes, with each pleading not guilty.
On 20 September 2015, Foreign Policy magazine reported the Westgate attack lasted several hours, with the last victim killed before special Kenyan security forces entered the mall. The mall was officially declared secured on 24 September.
Background
The incident followed threats from Al-Shabaab in late 2011 of attacks in Kenya in retaliation for Operation Linda Nchi, a coordinated military operation in southern Somalia that was launched against the group by the Somali Armed Forces and Kenya Defence Forces. One week before the incident and a month after United Nations warnings of possible attacks, Kenyan police claimed to have disrupted a major attack in its final stages of planning after arresting two people with grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, and suicide vests packed with ball bearings. The two suspects were from a Nairobi neighbourhood where Somali immigrants live. A manhunt was also launched for eight more suspects. The Sunday Telegraph claimed that it had seen United Nations documents that warned that in the previous month the threat of an "attempted large-scale attack" in Kenya was "elevated." After the incident, Nairobi senator Mike Sonko claimed that he had warned the security services of a possible attack three months previously. The country was celebrating the International Day of Peace when the incident took place.
Preparation
An Al-Shabaab team, led by the Somali national Adan Garaar, conducted extensive reconnaissance of the building, noting entrances, exits, security systems, and other details. The mall’s unarmed security guards and casual checks for metal objects made it an attractive target for the group. Garaar, who was the head of Al-Shabaab’s external operations unit, took advantage of Kenya’s relaxed security measures and relocated to the town of Garissa in 2011 and began to plan the Westgate attack, securing support from Al-Shabaab’s leadership. The team visited Nairobi several times to inspect the mall and built a network to covertly obtain weapons, ammunition, SIM cards and a Mitsubishi Lancer. He reported his findings through Al-Shabaab’s chain of command who then submitted plans to Al-Shabaab’s senior operations commander, Abdirahman Sandhere and was approved by the emir of Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane shortly after. All four attackers arrived around three months before the siege. Adan Garaar was killed after a drone strike on 12 March 2015. Garaar was in a vehicle hit by a missile near the town of Dinsoor in southern Somalia.
On 17 June 2013, one of the attackers, Mohamed Abdinur Said, known by his nom de guerre as Umayr al-Mogadish, boarded East African Express flight 803 from Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport to Nairobi via Wajir and Entebbe, Uganda. Abdinur, who presented himself as a student with no travel history, passed through security without arousing suspicion. Call log data later revealed that he made several phone calls to known Al-Shabaab members in Somalia while waiting for the flight to be cleared at Wajir International Airport.
Two other attackers, including Ahmed Hassan Abukar and Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, used Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport as a point of entry into Kenya to avoid the heightened security measures at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). Abukar and Abdinur had known each other from their time in Kakuma Refugee Camp, and over the years had been radicalised by Al Shabaab, while Dhuhulow was radicalised online in Norway. By 26 July 2013, Mohamed Abdinur boarded a bus from Kampala to Nairobi, joining Ahmed Abukar, who was already in Kenya. The attackers communicated extensively via phone, coordinating their movements across Uganda and Kenya. Abdinur, believed to be the group’s leader, made frequent calls to Mohamed Abdi, who was later convicted for his role in planning the attack.
Shootings and initial siege
On Saturday 21 September 2013, at about 12:25 p.m., at least four masked assailants (initially claimed by the government to be between 10 and 15) jumped out of a silver Mitsubishi Lancer on Mwanzi Road, near the front entrance of the Westgate shopping mall, the most upscale mall in Nairobi, in its Westlands district. They threw three grenades; one hit a nearby coffee shop, while two hit a security booth nearby. The four militants split into pairs. One pair made for the main pedestrian entrance, while the other continued along the front of the building toward the vehicle entrance. Two of the gunman made it up to the upstairs parking lot, where a children’s cooking competition was being held. They approached and threw grenades and opened fire indiscriminately. One of the militants said in English: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We’ve come to kill you Christians and Kenyans for what you are doing in Somalia." One of the attackers yelled "we are al-Shabab".
The two other gunmen had been shooting at shoppers from the main entrance. One of the gunmen, Abu Baara al-Sudani (later identified as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow), entered the Urban Burgers restaurant and fired at the patrons, mostly foreign tourists and expats, killing three and injuring numerous others. Dhuhulow had made a phone call to his uncle in Egypt, Abdi Mohammed Dhuhulow, where he claimed responsibility for the ongoing assault. Dhuhulow reportedly told his uncle to watch BBC and Al Jazeera, stating, "I am responsible for that. Say bye to the family." Earlier in the attack, Dhuhulow had been shot in the leg by Constable Ali Miraji, who had initially mistaken the attackers for General Service Unit (GSU) officers. CCTV footage from inside the mall showed Dhuhulow limping with a blood-soaked bandage around his left knee. The attackers had discarded their cell phones two days prior to the siege, but two of their new numbers were traced to a location in Eastleigh and later to Westgate, where they arrived shortly before the attack began. By 1:15 p.m, all four gunmen regrouped together in a supermarket. The militants let an expatriate woman and her two children leave the store, along with an injured Kenyan teenage girl. Shortly after, the militants got into their first major confrontation with armed police, which would continue on throughout the day. Police surrounded the area and urged residents to stay away. A report indicated that about 80 people were trapped in the basement, but police said that they had escorted some shoppers to safety and were trying to capture the gunmen.
All four gunmen ended up inside a storeroom at the Nakumatt supermarket, where they would remain for the rest of the siege. Kenyan security forces began their operation at 4:00 p.m., almost four hours after the beginning of the attack. Most of the victims were killed in the first hour. Gunmen were seen on CCTV talking on mobile phones and bowing down in Islamic prayer between their attacks.
Rob Van Dijk, an employee of the Dutch embassy, said that while he was eating at a restaurant the attack started with grenades and was followed by gunfire as patrons screamed and dropped to the ground. Other witnesses said the attack began at the outdoor seating area of Artcaffe at the front of the mall. An Artcaffe employee, Patrick Kuria, said: "We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside. Later we heard them come inside. We took cover. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot." Some of the casualties were at the entrance to the mall after the assailants moved outside and a stand-off then commenced with police. Ambulances were present at the mall as rescuers started moving emerging victims. Reports indicated children were among the victims, and patrons that were carrying small children were among those trapped. Mall security guards used shopping carts to ferry out wounded children.
Nation TV footage showed dozens of people escaping from a back entrance. Twenty people were rescued from a toy shop on the upper floor. As the Kenyan army troops arrived, they used tear gas to try to smoke out the attackers from the cinema complex. Vehicles riddled with bullet holes were left abandoned in front of the mall. Kimaiyo said: "Our officers are on the ground carrying out an evacuation of those inside as they search for the attackers who are said to be inside." A police officer indicated that there were three bodies there while he pointed to a pool of blood by a children's shoe shop. He then pointed to a hamburger bar where music still played and indicated more bodies were found there.
The attackers had told Muslims to leave and that non-Muslims would be targeted. Others were asked to name the mother of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to distinguish Muslims from non-Muslims. They also distinguished Muslims from non-Muslims by asking others to recite the shahadah. To Associated Press, al-Shabaab called it "a meticulous vetting process ... to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar". At least two people were killed for incorrectly stating the Shahadah.
Friendly fire incident
The Recce Company, a specialised unit of Kenya’s General Service Unit (GSU), arrived at around 4:00 PM. They entered the mall through the rooftop car park, while Kenya Defense Force soldiers simultaneously entered from the ground floor. The two groups were not in communication with each other, which led to them mistakenly engaging in a shoot-out with each other on the first floor of the mall. The commander of the Recce Squad, Martin Munene, was killed, and two officers were injured. In the aftermath, the Recce Squad members withdrew from the operation, followed by the withdrawal of the army, leaving no Kenyan military presence in the mall for several hours.
Rescue efforts
Goran Tomašević, Reuters chief photographer for East Africa, recorded the first few hours of the attacks in which he described extremely distressed people including children, women and men bleeding from the impact of shrapnel and gunshots. Abdul Yusuf Haji, son of former Defence Minister of Kenya Mohamed Yusuf Haji, on receiving text messages from his brother Noordin Yusuf Haji, an undercover anti-terrorism agent who was stuck inside the shopping center, travelled to the mall with his handgun and entered with other civilian rescuers. He helped rescue a mother and her three daughters, providing cover with other armed rescuers. Tomasevic's photos of the rescue efforts by civilians were beamed all around the world.
Several other armed and unarmed civilians also participated in various rescues. The British military veterans, Taff Groves (22 SAS) and Dominic Troulan, the Irish Army veteran Lorcan Byrne and the off-duty member of the Diplomatic Protective Services Tactical Response Unit Peter Bach helped to save lives in the immediate aftermath of the attack. All four men were working as security consultants and rushed to the mall after the militants began their attack. Under fire, they organised the rescue of terrified shoppers. There are several similarities between this rescue by civilians and members of elite forces and the rescue at Nairobi DusitD2 complex attack. Troulan was subsequently awarded the George Cross, Britain's highest award for civilian gallantry.
By nightfall, the mall remained sealed off to the public while security services searched floor by floor for the gunmen, believed to still be inside with the hostages. People continued to trickle out from hiding places. The Kenyan Red Cross said on 24 September that 63 people were still missing. In Nairobi, daily business returned to normal; appeals replenished blood banks, and over US$650,000 was raised to support the affected families.
Israeli involvement
At the time of the attacks, the mall was owned by Israelis, and at least four restaurants in the mall were owned/operated by Israelis, according to Israeli sources. The International Business Times stated that Kenya and Israel had a secret security pact. Israeli military advisers were reported to have participated in the counter-offensive against the hostage takers and to have joined in the fighting, although the Israeli Foreign Ministry refused to confirm or deny the involvement of its forces in the incident. An al-Shabaab spokesman claimed that the attackers inside Westgate had killed four "Jewish" soldiers.