Besieged Kenya mall

Black smoke rose Monday afternoon over the besieged mall in Nairobi, Kenya, where security forces have been in a standoff with terrorists. In its third day, it was not clear whether the siege was nearing an end at the Westgate Shopping Mall. Kenyan authorities claimed earlier Monday that they had made progress against terrorists inside the mall, where at least 69 people have died. Terrorists from the Al-Shabaab group (a Somalia-based, al Qaeda-linked organization) were believed to have about 10 remaining hostages on one level of the mall. Other mall levels had been cleared. The attack began at midday Saturday, Nairobi time, with an estimated 10 to 15 gunmen. According to witnesses, the gunmen went from store to store shooting people and then took hostages. Al-Shabaab has claimed that the attackers targeted non-Muslims and vowed they would not negotiate for the hostages' lives. The reasons for the attack include recruitment and media attention in addition to the overall goal of a fundamentalist Islamic state. Before its Twitter account was suspended, Al-Shabaab issued a list of nine names it said were among the attackers. It said three were from the United States, two from Somalia and one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the United Kingdom.

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