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Kenya says 'most' hostages freed after forces launch attack inside mall
"Most" of the hostages who have been holed up at an upscale shopping mall in Kenya's capital after it was attacked by members of an Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group on Saturday have been freed, Kenya's military says.Kenya's armed forces launched a "major" assault on the militants on Sunday night -- about 30 hours after the Islamists stormed the Nairobi mall in an attack that left at least 68 dead and 175 injured. At around midnight local time, Kenya's Defence Forces said it had rescued most hostages and had taken control of most of the mall, but declined to give numbers. Officials said four Kenyan military personnel were wounded in the operation. Kenyas president, Uhuru Kenyatta, said in a national address Sunday that security forces had managed to isolate the criminals in one place inside the building, according to Reuters. Two helicopters were seen flying over the mall. There are between 50 to 200 hostages and most of them were hiding in various places inside the mall, Fox News confirms. They are not being held by the hostage-takers. There are between 10 to 15 militants currently inside the mall, with at least one being female.Some of the people in hiding managed to escape before the military assault, according to Kenyan media reports. Posted by: tu3031 2013-09-22 |
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