Kenya marks anniversary of Westgate mall attack

Thousands of mourners gathered in Kenya’s capital on Sunday for emotional commemorations marking a year since Somali Islamist gunmen attacked Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall and massacred at least 67 people. The east African nation is on high alert for the anniversary, which comes just weeks after al-Shebaab’s reclusive leader and the alleged mastermind of the Westgate attack, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. air strike in southern Somalia. In Nairobi’s Karura forest, close to 2,500 people—many of them survivors or bereaved families—were holding inter-faith prayers and a memorial procession. A plaque bearing the names of the victims will also be unveiled.

My life is completely shattered, it’s been very hard to cope.

Amul Shah, 62, whose son was among those killed

Amul Shah said his 38-year-old son was looking after children taking part in a cooking competition on the mall’s rooftop when the attackers struck. He helped several children escape from the attack, but did not escape himself. Shoppers were hunted down in supermarket aisles and killed, in what al-Shebaab said was revenge for Kenya’s sending of troops to fight the extremists in Somalia as part of an African Union force. The extremists have launched a string of subsequent attacks in Kenya, including a wave of massacres in the coastal region, which has badly affected the country’s key tourist industry.

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