Contrary to what Kenyan Police and Authorities had said regarding the attackers of the Westgate Shopping Mall in the Westlands of Nairobi, Kenya, New York City Police Department (NYPD) says the attackers were only four.
Only four men appear to have carried out the massacre not 15, as Kenyan officials speculated and all of them may have gotten away, suggests the report, which was released to private security personnel in New York on Tuesday.
Only four men appear to have carried out the massacre not 15, as Kenyan officials speculated and all of them may have gotten away, suggests the report, which was released to private security personnel in New York on Tuesday.
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| Detectives inside the Westgate Mall. |
"It is unknown if the terrorists were killed or escaped the mall, A major contributing factor to this uncertainty was the failure to maintain a secure perimeter around the mall."added the report.
The report also revealed that the terrorists did not hold hostages inside the mall, nor did they create a smokescreen by setting fire to mattresses. "They only appeared interested in killing a broad spectrum of people."continued the report.
After exploding three grenades upon entering the mall, the killers used AK-47 assault weapons in single-fire mode to shoot their victims, according to the findings of an NYPD team sent to Nairobi as part of a US anti-terrorism task force that investigated the attack.
The report credits private security guards at the mall with helping many people reach safety.
The report blames Kenyan Security for delaying to respond to the attack. According to the NYPD findings, law enforcement personnel were slow to arrive at the scene, with the first tactical team reaching the mall about 90 minutes after the start of the attack at about 12:15 pm on September 21.
The Kenyan tactical team did not actually enter the mall until 3:00 pm, the NYPD adds.
The first set of police officers inside Westgate did not have official markings, and were fired on by Kenyan soldiers, officers also lacked basic equipment such as bulletproof vests, radios and handguns, the NYPD asserted.
Kenyan emergency responders "had no idea what the mall looked like internally,” and did not know how to access the mall's closed-circuit television system, the assessment added.
The terrorists may have slipped out of the mall 12 hours after the start of the attack, the NYPD report continues.
Lt Detective Commander Kevin Yorke, who prepared the report, told journalists on Tuesday that he is sceptical of Kenyan authorities' claims that the attackers died when explosions caused parts of the mall to collapse.
The NYPD detective commander added that there is "significant" physical and video evidence that some Kenyan military personnel looted the mall.
Westgate, an upscale shopping mall in Kenya was attacked by reportedly Al-shabab terrorists on the weekend of September 21, leading to the death of at least 72 people and injuring over 180 who included both Kenyan Nationals and foreigners.
The attack lasted for three days.