 Westgate Shopping Mall in July 2007 | |
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| Location | Nairobi, Kenya |
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| Coordinates | 1°15′25″S36°48′12″E / 1.25694°S 36.80333°E |
| Address | Mwanzi Road, Westlands |
| Opening date | 2007 18 July 2015 (reopening) |
| Owner | Sony Holdings [1] |
| No. of stores and services | 80+ |
| Total retail floor area | 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 5 |
| Website | www |
Westgate Shopping Mall (also known as Westgate) is an upscale shopping mall located in the Westlands division of Nairobi, Kenya. It was first opened in 2007.
The five-storey mall opened in 2007 and included 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of retail space and housed more than 90 stores. [2] Nakumatt and Planet Media Cinemas anchored the mall. Other large units included Identity, Mr. Price Home, Artcaffe, and Barclays Bank on the ground floor, and Millionaires Casino on the second floor. Smaller units included outlets for international brands Adidas, Bata Shoes, CFC Stanbic Bank, Converse, FedEx, and Samsung Mobile. [3]
The luxury shopping center was popular with Kenya's new consumer class, as well as foreign officials and expatriates. [4] [5]
On 21 September 2013, a group of 4 terrorists associated with the al-Shabaab militant group wounded and killed customers, employees and visitors at the Westgate mall in an extended attack, using firearms and hand grenades. At least 68 people were reportedly killed, with over 200 injured. The terrorists held many customers hostage and it took four days to end the attack. [6] By 25 September, three floors of the mall had collapsed because of it. [7]
The mall reopened on 18 July 2015. Parts of the mall which were badly damaged in the terrorist attack underwent further reconstruction and remained closed until 2018. [8] Legal proceedings with the insurer delayed reconstruction. [9] About 90% of previous tenants of Westgate retained their leases, and IRG, an Israeli security company, was hired to train the mall's new security staff. [9]
The mall's reopening was met with mixed reactions. Some hailed it as a demonstration of Nairobi's resilience in the face of terrorism, while others criticised it as disrespectful to the victims, suggesting that it should be converted to a memorial site or a place of worship instead. [10]
The 2002 Mombasa attacks was a two-pronged terrorist attack on 28 November 2002 in Mombasa, Kenya against an Israeli-owned hotel and a plane belonging to Arkia Airlines. An all-terrain vehicle crashed through a barrier outside the Paradise Hotel and blew up, killing 13 and injuring 80. At the same time, attackers fired two surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli charter plane. The Paradise Hotel was the only Israeli-owned hotel in the Mombasa area. The attacks were believed to be orchestrated by al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia in an attempt to disrupt the Israeli tourist industry on the African continent. Much speculation has occurred as to who the perpetrators are, but no complete list of suspects has been defined. The attack was the second al-Qaeda terrorist operation in Kenya, following the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi in 1998. Following the attack, the UN Security Council and other nations condemned the bombing.
Samantha Louise Lewthwaite, also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite or the White Widow, is a British terrorist who is one of the Western world's most wanted terrorism suspects. Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 London terrorist bomber Germaine Lindsay, is accused of causing the deaths of more than 400 people. She is a fugitive from justice in Kenya, where she was wanted on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice requesting her arrest with a view to extradition.
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, commonly known as al-Shabaab, is a Sunni Islamist military and political organization based in Somalia and active elsewhere in East Africa. It is actively involved in the ongoing Somali Civil War and incorporates elements of Somali nationalism into its Islamist cause. Allegiant to the militant pan-Islamist organization al-Qaeda since 2012, it has also been suspected of forging ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Israel–Kenya relations are foreign relations between Israel and Kenya. The countries established diplomatic relations in December 1963. Israel has an embassy in Nairobi. Kenya has an embassy in Tel Aviv.
Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, was the Emir (leader) of Al-Shabaab, an Islamist group based in Somalia. Godane, who received training and fought in Afghanistan, was designated by the United States as a terrorist. The exact date of Godane's rise to al-Shabaab's Emir is debated, although it seems he ascended to this position in December 2007.
On 11 July 2010, suicide bombings were carried out against crowds watching a screening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final at two locations in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The attacks left 74 dead and 85 injured. Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militia based in Somalia that has ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the blasts as retaliation for Ugandan support for AMISOM. In March 2015, the trial of 13 Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian alleged perpetrators of the bombings began at the High Court of Uganda.
From late 2011 to 2014, Kenya experienced an upsurge in violent terrorist attacks. Kenyan government officials asserted that many of the murders and blasts were carried out by al-Shabaab in retaliation for Operation Linda Nchi, a coordinated military mission between the Somalian military and Kenyan military that began in October 2011, when troops from Kenya crossed the border into the conflict zones of southern Somalia. According to Kenyan security experts, the bulk of the attacks were increasingly carried out by radicalized Kenyan youth who were hired for the purpose. Kenya security officials also indicated that they were part of death squads, which carried out many of the killings under the orders of a government security council. By mid-2014, the cumulative attacks began affecting Kenya's tourism industry, as Western nations issued travel warnings to their citizens.
Many terrorist attacks have occurred in Kenya during the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1980, the Jewish-owned Norfolk hotel was attacked by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1998, the US embassy was bombed in Nairobi, as was the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel in 2002 in Mombasa. In 2013, the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab killed 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall. There have also been many other attacks.
Joseph Jama Ole Lenku is a Kenyan politician who is the second Governor of Kajiado County after winning in the Kenyan General Elections on 8 August 2017 and retained his seat in the 2022 General elections held on 8 August. Lenku was Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government from 2013 to 2014.
On 21 September 2013, four masked gunmen attacked the Westgate shopping mall, an upmarket mall in Nairobi, Kenya. There are conflicting reports about the number killed in the attack, since part of the mall collapsed due to a fire that started during the siege. The attack resulted in 71 total deaths, including 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers, and all four gunmen. Approximately 200 people were wounded in the massacre.
On 14 December 2013, a hand grenade was thrown onto a minibus in Eastleigh, a Somali-dominated suburb in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The explosion killed at least 4 people and wounded 36 others. It was the fourth such attack to occur during the 50th anniversary week of Kenya's independence. Thirteen people died since 10 December 2013, with no group claiming responsibility for the assaults. A string of similar attacks have occurred in various areas across Kenya since the Kenyan military deployed troops in southern Somalia against the Al-Shabaab militant group.
Last Days is a 2014 American animated short documentary film about the decline of African elephant populations and the illegal ivory trade. It was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Scott Z. Burns. Featured in the film is footage of the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, which has been attributed to the militant organization Al-Shabaab. The film advances the claim that terrorist networks derive much of their income from poached ivory.
On 27 March 2015, Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack on the Makka al-Mukarama hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. The siege ended a few hours later on 28 March, after a special forces unit of the Somali Armed Forces stormed the premises, recaptured it, and killed all five of the attackers. According to the Ministry of Information, around 20 people died during the standoff, including the perpetrators, security forces, hotel security guards and some civilians, with around 28 wounded. The special forces also rescued more than 50 hotel guests. President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud ordered an investigation into the attack, and the Ministry of Information announced that the federal government was slated to pass new laws to curb illicit firearms. On 8 May, the Makka al-Mukarama hotel officially reopened after having undergone renovations.
On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing 148 people, and injuring at least 79. The militant groups Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, which the gunmen claimed to belong to, took responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage, freeing Muslims and killing those who identified as Christians. The siege ended the same day, when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer.
Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow was a Norwegian-Somalian Islamist terrorist and Al-Shabaab-member who was one of four perpetrators of the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya that killed 67 people.
Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, better known as Ikrima, is a terrorist described as one of the most dangerous commanders of the Somali terror organisation Al-Shabaab. He has reportedly been central in the planning of several terror attacks, and responsible for forging links between Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He is of Somali ethnicity.
The 2019 DusitD2 complex attack was a terrorist attack that occurred from 15 to 16 January 2019 in the Westlands area of Nairobi, Kenya, which left 22 civilians and all five terrorists dead.
On 6 December 2019, at least 11 people, including seven police officers, were shot dead on or outside a bus in Kenya. The Medina Bus Company vehicle and its passengers were attacked on a road in a rural area between Wajir and Mandera in northeastern Kenya. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is a 2019 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
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