No women among attackers, Kenyan

There are no women among the attackers of the Kenyan shopping mall, a state official said in an address to the media minutes ago in Nairobi.

An unidentified ‘White Widow’ had been rumoured to be in command of the terrorist attack on Kenya’s Westgate shopping mall which started Saturday and has so far claimed 62 lives.

Images of the white woman rumoured to be of British origin were said to have been picked up on close circuit television, but this has been debunked by official Kenyan sources at the media briefing.

There was an explosion and gunfire late Monday morning at the shopping mall in Nairobi Kenya, where terrorists are holding an estimated ten hostages, giving rise to fears that the terrorists may have blown themselves and the hostages up in a last stand.

CNN reports a plume of smoke following the explosion and raises questions as to the fate of the hostages, but a Kenyan official said the smoke was set up by the terrorists in an attempt to distract police. The official said 62 and 69 persons had died in the attack. He added that 175 people from the scene received treatment Sunday and that of these, only 50 were still being treated on Monday. Responding to claims that there was a white woman among the attackers, the official said all the attackers were men.

The official said Kenyan security forces were working to contain the onslaught.

CNN reports two military helicopters and on plane hovering around the vicinity, with emergency services and paramedics on ground.

Hundreds of people from around the world are glued to their television set monitoring the event, some of them worried about their friends or relations who may have visited the mall.

Terrorists from the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab group were believed to have about 10 remaining hostages on one level of the mall, security officials said.

The injured son of killed Ghanaian literary giant, Kofi Awoonor-Williams, is responding to treatment at a hospital in Kenya following the al-shabaab terrorist attack on non-Muslims at the Westgate shopping mall in the country’s national capital, Nairobi.

Awoonor and 58 others have so far been confirmed dead. About 175 people sustained injuries in Saturday’s attack.It is not clear yet which of Awoonor’s sons was with him at the mall when the attack occurred.

Relatives of the late Chairman of the Council of Sate are distraught about the tragic death of the poet and dramatist.

His hometown, Wheta in the Volta region of Ghana is in a sombre mood, according to XYZ News’ Correspondent Emmanuel Atukpa.

Al-Shabaab, the Somali-based Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, took to Twitter to claim responsibility for Kenya’s Westgate mall attack on Saturday.

The account, @HSM_Press, was being used by the group to advertise and justify the attack as it began.

It is the latest in a series of Twitter accounts the propaganda arm of the group, “HSM Press Office”, has utilised, ‘Human IPO’ reports.

.The Twitter account has currently been suspended over what Twitter calls breach of terms of service, which states users “may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities.

“What Kenyans are witnessing at westgate is retributive justice for crimes commied by their military, albeit largely miniscule in nature,” one of the Al-Shabaab Tweets read.

“We’ll not negotiate with the Kenyan govt as long as its forces are invading our country, so reap the bitter fruits of your harvest #Westgate,” said the Tweet.

The attack comes after Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October 2011 to join African Union forces in a bid to push Al-Shabaab out of the country.

An estimated 4,000 Kenyan troops remain in the country, fighting militants in the war-torn south.