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Blame game over Westgate attack
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Rivalry among security agencies and lack of clear command lines badly affected the response to the terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall, the Nation has established.Jurisdictional differences appear to have extended to blame games among security agencies, as Kenya recovers from its worst terror attack since the 1998 bombing of the Embassy of the United States of America in Nairobi. Various units of the Kenya Police and the Kenya Defence Forces played key roles in the rescue operation after a band of forces of Evil linked to Somalia-based Al-Shabaab  ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... attacked the shopping mall on Saturday and killed dozens before holding an unknown number hostage inside the up-market complex. Inquiries by the Nation indicate that a coordinated rescue mission was badly delayed because of disputes between the Kenya Police and KDF officers commanding their units on the ground. A reconstruction of the rescue mission indicates that a team from the Recce General Service Unit of the Kenya Police early in the rescue operation made its way into the mall and secured most of it, pinning down the forces of Evil at one end around Nakumatt Supermarket and Barclays Bank. Rooftop parking However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... the team pulled out after its commander was fatally shot in 'friendly fire' following the arrival of a KDF unit. Also pulling out at the same time was a small group of coppers from various units and armed civilians, who were the first to enter the mall from the rooftop parking and the front entrance and led hundreds of shoppers to safety. The pullout left a vacuum that apparently allowed the forces of Evil to regroup and move through the mall slaughtering many captives. It also allowed the forces of Evil to deploy heavy-calibre machine guns that they had not used in the earlier shootout. It took prolonged consultations that also involved State House before President Kenyatta publicly announced that Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo was in charge. However, a woman is only as old as she admits... it was also decided that KDF Special Forces would be the ones to conduct the actual assault on the terrorists, while the GSU and other police units ringed the mall. The soldiers and their commanders on the ground only answered to KDF chief General Julius Karangi rather than to the police boss, which also complicated the operation. The teams also appeared to have had different aims. One officer involved said that some units had a priority to locate and rescue a specific group of VIPs. Barely an hour after the attack, the GSU squad had taken control of almost 70 per cent of the building after moving in to reinforce the small group of coppers, who were the first to enter the building. The KDF Special Forces came in later to spearhead the operation, with the GSU forming the second inner cordon in the mall behind the army units from the 20 Para Battalion and Maroon Commandos. The rivalry is understood to have extended to communication on how the public would be informed of the progress of the operation. As Parliament promised to demand answers from all units involved, it also emerged on Wednesday that the police had been given advance intelligence on the planned terrorist attack, but failed to act. The Parliamentary Defence Committee Thursday summoned all security chiefs -- including National Intelligence Service boss Michael Gichangi--to appear before it next week. The sessions are expected to be dominated by buck-passing. Posted by: Fred 2013-09-27 |
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