NAIROBI (AFP) - Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants, claiming they were still holding hostages, on Tuesday battled Kenyan troops for the fourth day of a bloody siege at a Nairobi mall and threatened further attacks against the country.
Sporadic gunfire and a series of explosions at the upmarket Westgate shopping centre rang out throughout the day, despite officials earlier claiming Kenyan troops had wrested back "control" of the sprawling complex from Somalia's Shebab insurgents, who are said to include Americans and a British woman.
At least 65 shoppers, staff and soldiers have been killed and close to 200 wounded in the siege, but concerns are high that the toll may rise, with the Shebab boasting about "countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall".
The fate of 63 people listed as missing is unknown.
"The hostages who were being held by the mujahedeen inside Westgate are still alive, looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive," the Shebab said on Twitter.
But Kenyan officials have said all the hostages are believed to have been freed, with the interior ministry saying Tuesday the assault was "very near the end".
Shebab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage has said the carnage was in retaliation for Nairobi's two-year battle against the extremists' bases in southern Somalia.
On Tuesday, he threatened further attacks if Kenya did not pull its troops out of Somalia, warning the siege was just "a taste of what we will do... you should expect black days".
Meanwhile, explosive experts were defusing devices set up by the militants in the mall, police said, adding another dangerous element to the siege, which has now dragged on for 75 hours.
Part of the building's rooftop parking also collapsed Tuesday, security sources said, following a fierce fire the day before.
Shebab fighters stormed the crowded mall midday on Saturday, tossing grenades, firing automatic weapons and sending panicked shoppers fleeing.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said among the fighters were several American nationals and a British woman, which media reports have speculated could be a Muslim convert known as the "White Widow".
Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu told AFP that special forces were now "sanitising" the complex in case "there are a couple of them hiding in a remote room or corner".
"We think that everyone, the hostages, have been evacuated," Esipisu said.
Special forces on Monday killed at least three gunmen and wounded several in bitter fighting in the part Israeli-owned complex, popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates.
Three Kenyan soldiers on Tuesday died from injuries sustained in those gun battles, the army said. Eight others remain in hospital.
Kenyan army chief Julius Karangi said the attackers were from "different countries". Many foreign fighters, including Somalis with dual nationalities, are members of the Shebab force.
In an interview with US public broadcaster PBS, Kenya's foreign minister said young American men and a British woman were among the attackers.
"She has, I think, done this many times before," Mohamed said of the Briton, contradicting other officials who previously said all attackers were men.
Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May said she was aware of the reports, adding: "But until we can see the investigation is completed it is not possible to give further details or to confirm or deny that issue."
There is growing media speculation at the role of wanted British extremist Samantha Lewthwaite, daughter of a British soldier and widow of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, who blew himself up on a London Underground train on July 7, 2005, killing 26 people.
Lewthwaite is wanted in Kenya, and is accused of links to the Shebab.
Intelligence sources from two foreign countries who could not be named said there had been no leaks or "chatter" ahead of the attack, despite close monitoring of the Shebab's operations, suggesting the insurgents may have come from a different cell.
A Kenyan security source and a Western intelligence official said Israeli forces were involved in operations to end the mall siege, along with British and US agents.
Police also said they had arrested more than 10 people for questioning.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has called the attack "despicable and beastly".
Shocked witnesses said the attackers tried to weed out non-Muslims for execution by demanding they recite the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith. Children were also executed.
As well as scores of Kenyans -- from ordinary workers to the president's nephew -- the dead include six Britons including a British-Australian, two Canadians including a diplomat, a Chinese woman, a Dutch woman, two French women, two Indians, a South African and a South Korean.
"The people who did this, they are vigilantes, they are animals," British businessman Louis Bawa, whose eight-year-old daughter and wife were killed, told the Daily Telegraph.
Security camera footage seen by Kenyan media showed gunmen firing a barrage of bullets as they moved through the mall.
Away from Westgate, Nairobi on Tuesday appeared to have returned to largely business as usual, but the attacks have shocked Kenyans deeply.
Blood donor appeals ended after banks filled with donations from hundreds, while over $650,000 (490,000 euros) has been raised to support the families affected.
Israeli interests in Kenya have come under attack before, and the Westgate mall -- frequented by well-to-do Kenyans, diplomats, UN workers and other expatriates -- has long been seen as a potential target.
The siege, which has revived memories of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is the worst attack in Nairobi since an Al-Qaeda bombing at the US embassy killed more than 200 people in 1998.
US President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, has called Kenyatta offering "whatever law enforcement support that is necessary".
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-troops-battle-militants-mall-bloodbath-065036901.html
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