Scenes Of Horror In Nairobi Kenya

Scenes Of Horror In Nairobi Kenya

Scenes of horror after assault at a shopping center in the Kenyan capital. At least 62 people have been killed after an attack by a group of men armed with assault rifles and grenades. 

More than two days after Islamist gunmen began firing assault rifles and throwing grenades inside the Westgate mall in Nairobi, fewer than a third of the 62 confirmed victims have been publicly identified.
That death toll is likely to rise, with more than 60 reported missing, some of whom are likely to be hostages still.
The shopping centre is hugely popular with Nairobi's large expatriate community, and it is unsurprising that a good proportion of the dead were non-Kenyans, including from diplomatic, aid and business backgrounds.
There were also a number of families: among the groups initially targeted by the gunmen on Saturday was a cooking competition for young children on a rooftop terrace of the mall.
Hosting the contest and among the dead was Ruhila Adatia-Sood, a Nairobi local who was a popular TV and radio presenter. Known as Ru and married to an employee of the US Agency for International Development, Adatia-Sood was six months pregnant and posing happily for Instagram photos in the minutes before the attack.
One of these showed her with a good friend, Radio Africa journalist Kamal Kaur, who later sent a series of desperate tweets explaining how Adatia-Sood had died.
Kaur, who was with her own two young children, said the attackers threw a grenade at the crowd before shooting. One bullet narrowly missed her son before ricocheting off a wall and killing another child next to her.
She described lying still as the attackers returned, "in a pool of someone's blood, a dead little boy lying on my side".
The only child victim to be named so far is Paramshu Jain, the eight-year-old son of an Indian bank manager. His mother and 12-year-old sister were hurt. Another Indian national died, Sridhar Natarajan, a 40-year-old pharmaceutical worker.
Among the other victims was a hugely experienced UN tropical diseases specialist who was about to begin work at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
Juan Ortiz-Iruri, a Peruvian national, had lived in Africa for 25 years, mainly working on programmes to improve maternal and infant health. The 63-year-old was due to start as an adviser at the LSTM's Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health in October.
Professor Nynke van den Broek, head of the centre, said Ortiz-Iruri had "dedicated his professional life to improving health systems in Africa and Asia".
A diplomat was among two Canadian nationals killed, according to the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper. Annemarie Desloges, a border services official and the daughter of two retired diplomats, was described by colleagues as "one of our bright young lights". She was at the shopping centre with her husband, Robert Munk. He was wounded but has since been released from hospital.
The other Canadian victim was named as Naguib Damji, a businessman who was travelling through Kenya. He was in a coffee shop in the mall with relatives when, his family said, a gunman started firing and throwing grenades.
The ripples from the attack reached as far as Trinidad, with a research economist called Ravindra Ramrattan named among the dead. The winner of a presidential gold medal in Trinidad for his academic prowess, Ramrattan, known to friends as Ravi, was described as a "kind, good, and wonderful man".
The most high profile victim, and among the first to be named, was Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet and academic, and former diplomat. He was in Nairobi to attend the Storymoja Hay literary festival,
Nii Ayikewei Parkes, another Ghanaian poet, said people attending the festival realised something was wrong when Awoonor, known to many in Ghana as "Prof", failed to turn up for a scheduled poetry reading session, at which poets from west Africa and east Africa were due to perform. Parkes described the 78-year-old as "very witty, wise and incredibly magnanimous".
Awoonor is believed to have gone to the Westgate mall with his son Afetfi Awoonor, who left him in the car. It was unclear whether Awoonor was attacked in the car park, or whether he entered the mall looking for his son after hearing initial gunfire.
Afetfi Awoonor was shot in the shoulder and is believed to be recovering in Nairobi.
Very few of the Kenyan dead, expected to make up the majority of the victims, have been named yet. Among the first were Mbugua Mwangi, the nephew of Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta, and Mwangi's fiancee, Rosemary Wahito.
Also identified was Mitul Shah, a sales director who was at the cooking competition and died, some witnesses said, trying to save some of the children.
Among the other Kenyan dead were Joyti Kharmes Vaya, 37, a mother of three, and her sister-in-law, Maltiben Ramesh Vaya, 41, a bank worker.
Reports in South Africa said one person from the country was known to have died. James Thomas, 57, from Cape Town, was in Nairobi for business. His wife and three children had been told and were in shock,the pastor of his church in Cape Town said.
The two French women confirmed among the dead have not been named. However, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said they were a mother and her daughter, who both came from the French city.
A 38-year-old Chinese woman, identified so far only by the surname Zhou, who worked in the real estate industry, was killed in the attack, China's news agency said, adding that her son was injured and was in a stable condition in hospital. 

1. A soldier directs the evacuation of people who were at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi when the attack occurred.  KABIR DHANJI (EFE) 

2. Soldiers and police try to control the situation inside the mall.

GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

3. Two dead bodies lie in front of a burger at the mall.

GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

4. wo women are protected by armed police to go inside the mall.

GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

5. A lifeless body lying on the ground once the police have evacuated the mall.

KABIR DHANJI (EFE) 

6. A soldier inside the mall.

KABIR DHANJI (EFE) 

7. Several people walk alongside the bodies of their relatives killed in the trade center attack.    NOOR KHAMIS (REUTERS) 

8. everal policemen try is to safeguard a group of people outside the mall.

SIMON MAINA (AFP) 

9. A policeman protects a child taking him outside the mall.

SIMON MAINA (AFP) 

10. A person injured in the attack cries with two dead bodies.

GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

11. Security officers begin to take positions in the mall.

SIEGFRIED MODOLA (REUTERS) 

12. A family prepares to leave the mall after the attack.

SIEGFRIED MODOLA (REUTERS) 

13. A soldier and a gunman assist in locating the cause of the attack in the Westgate Mall.

ABIR DHANJI (EFE) 

14. Several dead bodies lie on the floor of the mall parking lot as a man who had been hiding behind cars for help.     GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

15. Two security officials injured woman help.    SIMON MAINA (AFP) 

16. Several policemen output protect people who were inside the mall.

NOOR KHAMIS (REUTERS) 

17. Miebros police take positions outside the mall.

JONATHAN KALAN (AP) 

18. Several people move a wounded just outside the mall.

SIMON MAINA (AFP) 

19. A woman is moved into a shopping cart to receive medical care.

SIMON MAINA (AFP) 

20. A soldier carries a child outside the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi.

GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

21. Armed police helps a woman and her child to protect against gunfire.

GORAN TOMASEVIC (REUTERS) 

22. A group of people leaving the mall with arms raised.

SIEGFRIED MODOLA (REUTERS) 

23. A woman leaves the air conditioning duct where he had hidden during the attack.

NICHOLE SOBECKI (AFP-TV) 

24. Police protect the output of the people who were inside the mall during the attack.

JONATHAN KALAN (AP)