Body of another suspected gunman recovered at Nairobi mall

[News_Editor]

NAIROBI, KENYA (BNO NEWS) -- Investigators sifting through the rubble of an upscale shopping mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi have recovered the body of another suspected gunman, officials said on Sunday, a month after a group of gunmen seized the mall and killed dozens of shoppers.

The attack began at around noon on September 21 when more than a dozen suspected al-Shabaab gunmen stormed the popular Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, opening fire with assault rifles and throwing grenades at terrified shoppers. An unknown number of people were held hostage as the gunmen engaged in gun battles with security forces, leading to a four-day-long siege.

"This week we recovered three bodies which we believe to be those of terror suspects," Interior Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku said. "[On Sunday] we recovered a fourth body, which we know from CCTV footage to be that of a terrorist. DNA and other investigations will confirm their identities."

Lenku said investigators also recovered four AK47 rifles that were used during last month's attack, as well as eleven magazines for the assault rifles.

"We wish not to comment on various reports on nationalities of the terrorists until we complete forensic investigations," the official added during Sunday's remarks. "We are determined to bring this chapter to a close by identifying the terrorists responsible for the attack, including those who planned it."

At least 67 people, including 61 civilians and six members of Kenya's security forces, were killed and 175 others were injured during the four-day-long siege. "We continue to dig through the rubble at Westgate," Lenku said on Sunday, as the bodies of several gunmen remain missing.

Al-Shabaab previously claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retribution for Kenya's military deployment in Somalia. Of the 61 civilians who died during the siege, nineteen were foreigners, including six Britons and Ghanaian poet and diplomat Kofi Awoonor. President Uhuru Kenyatta's nephew Mbugua Mwangi and his fiancée were also killed.

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