American citizens among dozens injured in Nairobi mall shooting

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/21/americans-injured-kenya-mall-shooting

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The State Department said on Saturday it had reports that American citizens were injured when gunmen stormed a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. At least 25 people were killed in the attack, which the department condemned as a "senseless act of violence".

In a statement, a department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said: "We have reports of American citizens injured in the attack, and the US embassy is actively reaching out to provide assistance."<br /> <br />Citing privacy considerations, Harf declined to give details of any Americans who had been injured.

On Saturday afternoon, al-Jazeera reported that the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabaab had said it carried out an attack. Al-Shabaab said it was in contact with the "Mujahideen" gunmen and said the mass shooting was justice for crimes committed by Kenyan troops in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab used Twitter to say: "For long we have waged war against the Kenyans in our land, now it's time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land."

On Friday, US secretary of state John Kerry met the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, in Washington. In remarks to the press before the meeting, Kerry said: "The United States, obviously, has been engaged in helping Somalia fight back against tribal terror … and the president and his allies have really done an amazing job of fighting back."

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