Video shows horrific aftermath of Kenyan mall attack

A harrowing video filmed by the Kenyan Red Cross shows responders rushing to help the injured shortly after the assault on the Westgate mall began.

The footage shows rescuers entering the Nairobi’s mall’s upper level parking area on September 31 and treating the injured as bodies lie on the pavement.

The end of the graphic video appears to show several seriously wounded and dead people where a children’s cooking event had been taking place. Injured people are wailing and calling out for help.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT:

Inside the mall yesterday – the last of three days of an official mourning period – a pushchair could be seen overturned on the marble floor next to wilting fresh flowers at a florist’s shop. Slabs of concrete sat on top of flattened cars in the parking area. Elsewhere, there were rows of scorched vehicles.

Earlier, a top official said Kenya’s military caused the collapse of three floors of the mall in the deadly terrorist siege as the government urged patience with the pace of an investigation that has left key questions unanswered.

Seven days after 67 people were killed in the attack on the upmarket shopping centre, there is still no clear word on the fate of dozens who have been reported missing and no details on the terrorists who carried it out.

The account of the roof collapse raises the possibility that the military may have caused the death of hostages in its rescue attempt. An undisclosed number of people are feared to be buried in the rubble.

The official said post-mortem examinations would be conducted on any bodies found – from the militants or the structural collapse.

The official also said Kenyan troops fired rocket-propelled grenades inside the mall, but would not say what caused the floors to collapse, if the action was intentional, or if it was an accident.

The account at least partially backs up information given on Wednesday by another official who said RPGs fired by soldiers created a gaping hole in the mall’s roof and caused the floors to collapse.

Four huge explosions rocked the mall on Monday and dark smoke poured out – the likely time that the floors collapsed.

The government has not said publicly what caused the collapse. One official had earlier suggested it was caused by a mattress fire in the Nakumatt department store.

Presidential spokesman Manoah Esipisu said structural engineers were examining the collapse. FBI agents, along with investigators from Britain, Canada and Germany, are taking part in the inquiry. Results are not expected until next week at the earliest.

Police are trying to determine if the attackers stored ammunition in the mall hours or even days before the attack, and investigators are tracing the ownership of a car that has been discovered and is believed to have been used by the gunmen.

Al-Shabab said it carried out last Saturday’s attack to punish Kenya for sending its troops into Somalia to fight the al Qaida-linked militant group that had seized large parts of that country for years before being dislodged from the capital Mogadishu.

Eight suspects are being held over the attack, interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said. Three others who had been detained were released.

The government says at least 61 civilians and six security forces were killed. At least five attackers were also killed.

At the request of Kenya, Interpol issued a notice asking for help in capturing 29-year-old British-born fugitive Samantha Lewthwaite – not in connection with the mall attack, but over a 2011 plot to bomb holiday resorts in Kenya.

Known in British tabloids as “the white widow”, she was married to one of the suicide bombers in the July 7 2005 attack on London’s transport system, and British media speculated she was involved in the mall attack.

But Mr Lenku suggested that Interpol raised the issue of the international alert. He declined to discuss any links to the mall attack, saying he “wouldn’t want to pre-empt the position of the forensic investigation taking place”.

Kenyan officials have offered at times contradictory accounts of the siege and are reluctant to release many details of the investigation prematurely.

Mr Lenku urged patience, saying the investigation is “a very delicate and complex operation that requires time”.

He said no bodies had been recovered from the rubble and no official reports of missing persons had been filed. The Kenyan Red Cross has said 59 people are unaccounted for, raising fears of bodies in the debris.

The possibility that government troops were behind the roof collapse only added to the frustrations of Kenyans questioning what happened at the mall.

“You have to blame the government, not the soldiers, because they had to get their orders from somewhere,” said John Odera, a security guard. “They should be held responsible for what they did.”

A user-generated list of more than 80 questions on social media includes “How many terrorists were involved in the attack?”, ”Are any terrorists loose in the city?“, ”Can we see the bodies of the ’neutralised’ terrorists?” and “Are we still safe?”