This morning, authorities in Kenya were still engaged in a firefight with terrorists who stormed an upscale mall on Saturday. So far, at least 62 people have been killed during the siege in Nairobi, and as of this morning, the terrorists still held at least 10 people hostage. Though, according to the most recent reports, police have regained control of the mall. Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab—an Al Qaeda proxy—is believed to be behind the attack. Al-Shabaab is known for recruiting terrorists internationally, and officials say that at least three of the attackers are American.
According to reports from survivors, the terrorists have targeted non-Muslims (warning, some of the images from the scene are graphic), executing hostages who could not tell them certain facts about Islamic teachings. Among those killed were several international visitors to Kenya, a well-known African writer named Kofi Awoonor, children and even family members of the country’s president John Mahama. Before the group’s official Twitter account was eventually suspended, the massacre was being live tweeted. During the attack the group tweeted that the actions were “retributive justice for crimes committed by their military, albeit largely miniscule in nature.” Since 2011, the Kenyan military and area peacekeeping forces have launched attacks against the group, who are also responsible for attacks against Christian churches and public transportation areas …
