39 killed in Kenya mall attack

A military helicopter hovers above the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 21, 2013. At least 20 people have been killed and more than 50 others wounded when masked gunmen stormed a popular shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and held shoppers hostages on Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chen)

The death toll in an attack by gunmen on a popular upmarket shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Saturday rose to 39, according to Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.

One Chinese killed in Nairobi mall attack, child injured

Addressing to the nation late Saturday, Kenyatta said at least 39 people were killed and more than 150 were wounded in the attack, adding that "the despicable perpetrators of this cowardly act hoped to intimidate, divide and cause despondency amongst Kenyans. "

He said Kenya has overcome terrorist attacks before and will defeat them again. The government stands ready to defeat internal and external aggression, he said.

The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) earlier put the death toll at 30. The secretary general Abbas Gullet told Xinhua that rescue operation is still underway, expressing fears that there would be more casualties since some of the shoppers are still holed up in the mall. However, Kenya's interior ministry is not sure whether there are hostages inside the mall.

KRCS officials also told Xinhua that currently there are no Chinese casualties in the attack. The Chinese Embassy in Kenya's capital Nairobi said that the preliminary findings showed that there are no Chinese casualties so far in the attack.

Somalia's militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility of the attack, saying in its twitter account "HSM Press Office" that "The Mujahideen entered #Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting the #Kenyan Kuffar inside their own turf."

"Since our last contact, the Mujahideen inside the mall confirmed to @HSM_Press that they killed over 100 Kenyan kuffar & battle is ongoing," the group said.

"HSM has on numerous occasions warned the Kenyan government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia would have severe consequences." "The Kenyan government, however, turned a deaf ear to our repeated warnings and continued to massacre innocent Muslims in Somalia," the group said.

"By land, air and sea, #Kenyan forces invaded our Muslim country, killing hundreds of Muslims in the process and displacing thousands more," the group said, adding "The attack at #WestgateMall is just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyans invaders."

The group said the attack is "retributive justice for crimes" committed by Kenya's military, and "now it's time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land."

The group said the message sent to the Kenyan government and public "is and has always been just one: remove all your forces from our country."

The East African country has been scrambling with insecurity since October 2011, when the Kenya Defense Forces launched a cross- border incursion into southern Somalia in pursuit of Al-Shabaab militants, who had kidnapped several foreigners on the side of Kenya along the border, posing a serious threat to the country's pillar industry of tourism.

In the latest development, Kenyan police said they are holding a suspect in connection to the attack. Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo said the suspect believed to have been involved in the attack was escorted to hospital by police in an operation carried out by a contingent of police officers who have surrounded the mall.

"We have detained the Westgate Mall attack suspect in hospital. One gunman was wounded while several others have been pinned down, " Kimaiyo told a news conference in Nairobi.

Kenyan presidency later confirmed that the gunman who had been arrested succumbed to bullet wounds.

The standoff continues into the evening, hours after the shootout between police officers and the armed men in the mall began in the morning.

Authorities have already moved in elite troops with the backing of armored vehicles to reinforce the police force surrounding the shopping mall, which is frequented by wealthy Kenyans and foreigners. The mall consists of five floors and more than 80 shops as well as a Nakumatt supermarket which is occupied by masked gunmen, according to police.

Witnesses said they thought it was a robbery after they heard of explosion and gunshots. Mutea Iringo, the principal secretary in the ministry, said it was an terror attack rather than a robbery. After the attack, the Google Kenya has also been hacked.

A witness who did not give the name told Xinhua that he heard explosion and saw masked gunmen shooting before he hid in a men's room. He said the gunmen were speaking the language that he did not understand.

Another anonymous witness said the gunmen shot dead the security guards and then opened fire shop by shop.

The group of gunmen entered the mall at around 10:30 a.m. local time. However, they did not say anything conclusive about their demands.