President Kenyatta orders inquiry into mall terror attack

President Kenyatta on Tuesday ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate the Westgate Mall terror attack.

At the same time, eight body bags were delivered to the City Mortuary from the ruined mall. The number of those missing has also been revised to 28, although no official announcement has been made.

The commission, the President said, would seek to address the security lapses that could have led to the terror attack even as he maintained that Kenya Defence Forces would not pull out of Somalia.

The President, who was speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre during an Inter-Religious Council prayer service for the victims of the attack, did not indicate when the commission would be set up and its membership.

It will likely seek to establish whether National Intelligence Service reports had warned that Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab terror group planned to attack Kenya and if adequate measures were put in place to prevent it.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku has declined to respond to the allegations, saying intelligence matters could not be discussed in public.

Other claims include that elite squads of the GSU and the military which responded to the attack did not have a common assault plan resulting to fatalities from friendly fire.

The collapse of a section of the mall and reports of looting have also placed the military on the spot.

IN FOR THE LONG HAUL

A tough-talking President Kenyatta said terror attacks would not deter the country’s efforts to stabilise Somalia, adding that KDF was in the war-torn country for the long haul. (TIMELINE: A history of terrorist attacks in Kenya)

Al-Shabaab has demanded that Kenya withdraws its forces of face more terror attacks. “I want to be categorically clear; we will stay there (in Somalia) until they bring order to their nation. We will not be intimidated. We will not be cowed. If their desire is for Kenya to pull out of Somalia, all they need to do is what they should have done 20 years ago which is put their house in order and we shall come back,” said the President amidst applause.

As he spoke, forensic teams recovered more bodies. It is not clear whether the eight bags taken to the mortuary contained different victims.

Earlier reports said three bodies were taken out of the rubble. One was thought to be that of a KDF soldier because of the remains of his uniform and a G-3 rifle similar to those issued to soldiers deployed at the mall. It was taken away at around 1pm in a military ambulance.

Meanwhile, the UK High Commission spokesman John Bradshaw on Tuesday discounted reports that foreign experts had been barred from collecting crucial evidence.
“None of this is correct. The relationship between the UK Metropolitan Police and the Kenyan CID is excellent,” Mr Bradshaw said.

An official at the American embassy also discounted claims that US experts had been barred from accessing crucial information.

Reported by DAVE OPIYO and FRED MUKINDA with additional reporting by ZADOCK ANGIRA.