Gunmen in mall
attack ‘ashamed 
and defeated’

In a televised address to the nation, president Uhuru Kenyatta said: “We have ashamed and defeated our attackers.”

Intelligence reports suggested a British woman – speculated to be “white widow” Samantha Lewthwaite, who has lived in West Yorkshire – and “two or three Americans” were among the militants and forensics experts are now working to establish their nationalities, he said.

At least 72 people were killed including 61 civilians and six Kenyan security forces out of a total of 240 casualties, Mr Kenyatta confirmed. Among the dead are at least six British nationals and it is feared the number could rise.

Three floors of the Westgate Mall in the capital collapsed during the battle to retake it and there were “several bodies still trapped in the rubble including the terrorists’”, the president said.

Five militants from the Somali al-Shabab group were confirmed to have been killed and another 11 suspects were taken into custody.

Authorities had previously announced the arrest of seven at the airport and three elsewhere.

Mr Kenyatta said: “I promise we shall have full accountability for the mindless destruction, deaths, pain, loss and suffering we have all undergone as a national family. These cowards will meet justice, as will their accomplices, wherever they are.”

Speculation has been rife that Lewthwaite, who was married to July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay and lived with him in Huddersfield before moving to Aylesbury, was involved in the bloodshed.

It was fuelled by Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohamed, who said one of the terrorists was a British woman who “has done this many times before”.

The British Foreign Office said it was aware of the claim, adding: “We continue to liaise very closely with the Kenyan authorities and to support their investigation.”

Lewthwaite, 29, publicly condemned her husband’s role in the 2005 London suicide bombings but disappeared soon after.

She is known to be in east Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that plotted to bomb the country’s coast. Officials said she fled to Somalia last March.

Lewthwaite’s 85-year-old grandmother has reportedly been taken to hospital in Northern Ireland as the stress of her possible involvement has taken its toll on her health.

The claims of a British woman’s involvement contradict an earlier statement by Kenyan interior minister Joe Lenku, who said all the attackers were men.

Al-Shabab also dismissed suggestions a woman was involved, claiming it had an “adequate number of young men committed and ready to sacrifice their lives”.

Nevertheless, the latest disclosures will stoke concerns among British security services that Somalia is becoming a magnet for UK-based extremists.

The then head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, warned in 2010 it was only a matter of time before jihadis fighting alongside al-Shabab carried out terror attacks in Britain. It is anticipated analysts will now be looking for any evidence of an increased threat to the UK.