Once again we have seen just how barbaric extremist religious zealots can be,
Nairobi is reeling in shock after the attack on the West gate mall on Saturday the 21st of September and dragged on till late Tuesday the 24th.
Upward of 16 heavily armed multi national Al Shabbab terrorists seemingly backed by Al Qaeda strolled into the mall dressed as women and started shooting at will. The terrorists told all Muslim civilians to get up and leave as they were only interested in non Muslims. Speculation has arisen that these terrorists were “tenants” of the mall having a shop within the mall and that would have facilitated the bringing in of weapons and ammunition at will leading up to the initial attack.
Many reports have speculated that many of the terrorists were dressed in Burkas and this would have been beneficial in making later scrutiny of CCTV footage difficult especially when mattresses were set on fire to provide an improvised smoke screen. Although 11 alleged terrorists have been captured makes the deception or pseudo operation they launched totally superfluous and also shows that these 11 were not “die hard” militants. (where was John Mclaine when we needed him?)
Throughout the siege of the mall many explosions can be heard and reports of grenades being used have come in from escaping hostages. In my opinion these explosions were not necessarily to kill members of the public but most likely targeted at weakening the structural integrity of the building, support pillars for example, if one gives then the floor it supports above caves in. ( If Al Qaeda ever considered going legit they could possibly be very adept at building demolition and implosions)
When parts of the mall collapsed it was a de facto victory for the Jihadists as not only did they kill a lot of civilians but also destroyed an entire building or just about (think back to the WTC 9/11 and the Embassy bombings). The security forces are now left with the task of retrieving the bodies of slain civilians and terrorists alike under the constant fear of other IED`s left lying about. It is going to be a slow tedious task clearing the mall which means that the body count could rise due to the Kenyan security forces not being able to get to possibly injured victims on time or they find those that were reported as missing.
The Kenyan armed forces can be applauded for their attempts at retaking the mall so quickly but the lack of dedicated genuine special forces aimed at hostage rescue and counter terrorism techniques was clearly evident from the pictures being beamed around the globe. The KDF were clearly out of their depth with this situation.
The government mouth piece duly responded to the media that they the KDF were currently engaged in “Sanitisation” measures on day 3 of the siege. He explained that the gun shots being heard were from KDF personnel who were firing into rooms that they had not been in before so as to avoid an “Ambush”.
Look this all sounds legit except for the fact that these unknown rooms could possibly contain survivors hiding from terrorist members. His wording was poorly thought out and albeit on the spot questioning I don`t think that is quite what he should have said to the media.
I was not aware that the Kenyan armed forces were under the auspices or even affiliated to the department of sanitation? Is “sanitisation” even an actual word?
In my opinion those gun shots are quite possibly slotting shots. The KDF have 11 or so detainees from the mall massacre so they have plenty of suspects to quizz so those left inside wounded or otherwise are simply targets for retribution a little target practice and payback. Lets face it 3 bullets are a lot cheaper than medical attention for some wounded, injured low life Islamist Jihadist terrorist!
His words give the impression that his soldiers are so scared that they are shooting first and asking questions later. The best response to any prying questions from the press is simple. “ No comment at this time as the situation is still fluid”.
The use of Twitter is alarming to say the least. During the entire siege the terrorists and their pals at Al Qaeda and the Mujahideen were updating tweets pertaining to their attack on the mall. Twitter need to pulled over the coals over this lack of taste. The second tweets start circulating that are all hip hip hooray pertaining to a disaster like this the twits at twitter should shut down those accounts. Twitter was effectively utilised as a medium for the terrorists while they were busy killing civilians. Imagine for a second the terrorist just finishes shooting a couple cowering on the floor in the food court and then yanks out his cell phone to tweet to his pals just how splendiferous the attack is going maybe even snapping a picture for posterity.
The eleven that were arrested do not fit the profile of Al Shabbab or Al Qaeda hard liners who would most certainly have battled through and murdered all the way to the end. This weak link is due to the fact that Al Shabbab are a gallimaufry of nationals from all walks of life who do not share that die for Allah extremist belief. If they were you can bet your bottom Dollar that the body count would have been way higher and the siege still going in full swing. Keep in mind that they were in the drivers seat and in a mall where food is abundant seeing that there are plenty of supermarkets etc.
We see this sissy I don`t want to die for Allah in the tweets that came from inside the mall where the terrorists complained that the authorities were using chemical agents against them! Really? For real? Did these Al Shabbabian boobs expect relaxing lounge music to be played through the PA system and Jasmine Potpourri wafting through the AC? It is safe to say that the KDF decided to pump tear gas in to create an environment that would lead both the terrorists and civilians to become affected and thereby easier to detain and control. When the terrorists complained about CS gas on twitter it became abundantly clear that they were not hard core extremists but a bunch of wanna be terrorists who still want to live but just like the idea of murdering people. Lets hope they are subjected to tactical questioning and either hanged or shot as punishment. Personally I would go the shooting squad route, a sort of taste your own medicine approach. Hanging is just to humane.
Here in South Africa our illustrious Playboy fashionista minister of police announced last week that the latest crime report indicates that mall robberies have gone up over the last year. Makes me wonder just how safe are we at our malls? We too have a large community of extremists right here in South Africa. Think about that next time you visit your local mall!
The same can be said for American malls, after all you guys are numero uno on the extremists to do list with the British coming in at a close number two and this attack in Nairobi should be a warning to practice vigilance and secure your malls, mass public events etc . People are at a lower sense of awareness when going to the mall and many parents are happy to send their kids off to the mall with their friends as they look at the mall as a safe haven because there are plenty of people, CCTV cameras and mall security. This however is a farce as we witnessed in Nairobi. The Nairobi West Gate mall is not some road side “cuca shop” it is an upmarket mall that possibly stands up with the malls in first world countries and just look at it now! It is collapsing , smoking and the scene of 60+ civilian deaths from all walks of life and racial groups. The only exclusions were when the terrorists told the Muslim patrons to leave and then went hell for leather on the remainder of the mall goers.
The rumours of this so called “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite is concerning in the fact that this cow is a mother of three young kids. Who the hell is looking after the rugrats while Mom is off plotting TERRORISM? Not since Ma Barker has a mother been so unfit to be a parent ,this woman is not fit to raise rattle snakes let alone children.
If she was involved and killed in the mall it would be a great day for those poor kids. Lets hope they are placed into caring nurturing foster homes where they can grow up and try live normal lives. They are still young enough to forget, well at least two of them are, the twelve year old may be a bit more problematic. These poor kids have a dad who had an explosive personality and blew himself to itty biity pieces and killed 50 people in London. Mom aint much better either, she is out plotting attacks and “overseeing” the murder of women and children!
Not exactly your normal 9 to 5 folks these little tykes have!
This attack like the one in Mumbai are game changers and the warning signs are clearly visible, the world needs to sit up and pull their thumbs out of their politically correct bums and do something about this unchecked problem. Ultimately Intel was the first victim here, the Kenyans have an already difficult internal political situation and now they have these dudes waltzing around and preparing their attacks without anyone even getting a whiff of it before it was too late. This is most certainly not the last attack that will utilize this Modus Operandi and that you can be very sure of ,the question is where will it happen next? People have short attention spans and will be a little more aware of their surroundings when visiting malls for the next week but thereafter vigilance falls away and predictability, routine and comfort returns.
A few years ago a jewellery store in a mall in Johannesburg North was targeted by Burka wearing gunmen who started shooting randomly to facilitate their getaway in the ensuing chaos. Point here is that short of banning full Burka and face covering in malls and other mass public areas where there are no metal detectors available is a necessity, it is possibly the only albeit politically incorrect semi solution to prevent such attacks where extremists are capitalising on the dress code of the dare I say orthodox or staunch Muslim women.
If I ever decided to dress as a woman to perpetrate a crime I would not go the whole Muslim Burka route, nope I would go dressed as Marilyn Monroe! This would happen about the same time that hell freezes over by the way.
The world is in flux and daily we read and are bombarded by images of religious extremists running amok in some bastardised version of their religion killing all and sundry but seemingly have “Tippexed” out the parts in their religion and scriptures that talks of tolerance, caring, love and brotherhood. The world needs differing religious beliefs and groups to provide variety but we most definitely do not need extremists of any sort be they explosive Muslims, barmy Christians , inflamed Buddhist Monks, kamikaze Hare Krishne, freaky Judaists , bazooka Wicca or insane Moonies, North Koreans. We just need a little tolerance and respect for other peoples religion despite their idiotic beliefs ((so long as they are barking at the moon way over there.))
This episode of revenge attacks and terror is far from over. This was just another well planned attack that showed a total failure in Intelligence gathering by the government apparatus. An attack this well organised and intricate that used 15+ heavily armed multi national operatives all coming to one place and launching the attack in a mall where they apparently rented space just shows how porous the borders and intelligence agencies really are. The worst case of Intel failure still belongs to the USA with 9/11, the terrorists there were trained to fly in America at American flight schools. That is not going to look good on the Intel resume like ever. Maybe more was at play maybe we do not know the entire story or will ever be privy to the full details of that calamity but the world is currently under attack by extremists who are holding us hostage! Even in our malls.
I am quite certain that an attack like the world witnessed in Kenya can be duplicated at another public gathering area within Africa. I would hedge my bets on Nigeria as they too have a long simmering and often bloody explosion of religious/ sectarian violence. An attack In Lagos or Abuja is not a fantasy but in my mind a given. There are many other countries in Africa who are developed and suffer similar divisions. South Africa is and would be a prime target for such an act of terror. We have all the components and players right here in our country. It is a well known fact that our security apparatus are actively investigating extremists right under our noses.
Please note
I am no aficionado on counter terrorism nor do I have any Nostradamus forward future visions. I simply have a little common sense and able to read and understand the world around me.
Mike Da Silva
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