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Nairobi shopping mall attack: Kenyan president's nephew among the dead Nairobi shopping mall attack: Kenyan president's nephew among the dead
(1 day later)
The death toll from the attack by suspected Islamist militants on a shopping centre in Nairobi has touched Kenyan society to the very top, with the nephew of the country's president among at least 59 people to have died. More than two days after Islamist gunmen began firing assault rifles and throwing grenades inside the Westgate mall in Nairobi, fewer than a third of the 62 confirmed victims have been publicly identified.
Uhuru Kenyatta, who was elected in March, told reporters at a news conference that his nephew and the nephew's fiancée had been confirmed among the dead. "These are young lovely people I personally knew and loved," he said, promising retribution against the "cowardly" attackers. That death toll is likely to rise, with more than 60 reported missing, some of whom are likely to be hostages still.
Kenyatta did not identify his nephew further, but local reports gave his name as Mbugua and that of his fiancée as Wahito. There were also reports that the president's older sister was at the Westgate mall at the time but escaped. The shopping centre is hugely popular with Nairobi's large expatriate community, and it is unsurprising that a good proportion of the dead were non-Kenyans, including from diplomatic, aid and business backgrounds.
Also killed was the celebrated Ghanaian writer Kofi Awoonor, who was in the Kenya capital for the Storymoja Hay literary festival. Awoonor was not due to speak at the festival that day so went shopping with his son, who was reportedly shot and injured. There were also a number of families: among the groups initially targeted by the gunmen on Saturday was a cooking competition for young children on a rooftop terrace of the mall.
The previous evening Awoonor, who was also an academic and formerly Ghana's ambassador to Brazil, Cuba and the United Nations, had dinner with one of Kenya's leading conservationists, Paula Kahumbu. The pair discussed Kenya and its problems, she said: "He was disappointed that Kenyans did not feel that Kenyans were in control of our fate." Hosting the contest and among the dead was Ruhila Adatia-Sood, a Nairobi local who was a popular TV and radio presenter. Known as Ru and married to an employee of the US Agency for International Development, Adatia-Sood was six months pregnant and posing happily for Instagram photos in the minutes before the attack.
Three British nationals were also among the confirmed dead, with the Foreign Office warning that this figure was likely to increase. Officials did not name them, but said next of kin had been told. David Cameron called the assault, claimed by the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab, "an absolutely sickening and despicable attack of appalling brutality". He added: "Because the situation is ongoing we should prepare ourselves for further bad news. Our thoughts also should be with the Kenyan government and the Kenyan people at this time." One of these showed her with a good friend, Radio Africa journalist Kamal Kaur, who later sent a series of desperate tweets explaining how Adatia-Sood had died.
Nationals from seven other countries were confirmed as dead, among them Annemarie Desloges, who served in Canada's high commission to Kenya. Another Canadian died. The one American confirmed as dead was the wife of a man working for the US Agency for International Development, US officials said. Kaur, who was with her own two young children, said the attackers threw a grenade at the crowd before shooting. One bullet narrowly missed her son before ricocheting off a wall and killing another child next to her.
India's foreign ministry said two of its nationals died, while two French women were killed, according to President François Holland. The Dutch foreign minister, Frans Timmermans, a 33-year-old Dutch woman died. She described lying still as the attackers returned, "in a pool of someone's blood, a dead little boy lying on my side".
Also killed were a 38-year-old Chinese woman and one South African. The only child victim to be named so far is Paramshu Jain, the eight-year-old son of an Indian bank manager. His mother and 12-year-old sister were hurt. Another Indian national died, Sridhar Natarajan, a 40-year-old pharmaceutical worker.
Among the other victims was a hugely experienced UN tropical diseases specialist who was about to begin work at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
Juan Ortiz-Iruri, a Peruvian national, had lived in Africa for 25 years, mainly working on programmes to improve maternal and infant health. The 63-year-old was due to start as an adviser at the LSTM's Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health in October.
Professor Nynke van den Broek, head of the centre, said Ortiz-Iruri had "dedicated his professional life to improving health systems in Africa and Asia".
A diplomat was among two Canadian nationals killed, according to the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper. Annemarie Desloges, a border services official and the daughter of two retired diplomats, was described by colleagues as "one of our bright young lights". She was at the shopping centre with her husband, Robert Munk. He was wounded but has since been released from hospital.
The other Canadian victim was named as Naguib Damji, a businessman who was travelling through Kenya. He was in a coffee shop in the mall with relatives when, his family said, a gunman started firing and throwing grenades.
The ripples from the attack reached as far as Trinidad, with a research economist called Ravindra Ramrattan named among the dead. The winner of a presidential gold medal in Trinidad for his academic prowess, Ramrattan, known to friends as Ravi, was described as a "kind, good, and wonderful man".
The most high profile victim, and among the first to be named, was Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet and academic, and former diplomat. He was in Nairobi to attend the Storymoja Hay literary festival,
Nii Ayikewei Parkes, another Ghanaian poet, said people attending the festival realised something was wrong when Awoonor, known to many in Ghana as "Prof", failed to turn up for a scheduled poetry reading session, at which poets from west Africa and east Africa were due to perform. Parkes described the 78-year-old as "very witty, wise and incredibly magnanimous".
Awoonor is believed to have gone to the Westgate mall with his son Afetfi Awoonor, who left him in the car. It was unclear whether Awoonor was attacked in the car park, or whether he entered the mall looking for his son after hearing initial gunfire.
Afetfi Awoonor was shot in the shoulder and is believed to be recovering in Nairobi.
Very few of the Kenyan dead, expected to make up the majority of the victims, have been named yet. Among the first were Mbugua Mwangi, the nephew of Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta, and Mwangi's fiancee, Rosemary Wahito.
Also identified was Mitul Shah, a sales director who was at the cooking competition and died, some witnesses said, trying to save some of the children.
Among the other Kenyan dead were Joyti Kharmes Vaya, 37, a mother of three, and her sister-in-law, Maltiben Ramesh Vaya, 41, a bank worker.
Reports in South Africa said one person from the country was known to have died. James Thomas, 57, from Cape Town, was in Nairobi for business. His wife and three children had been told and were in shock, the pastor of his church in Cape Town said.
The two French women confirmed among the dead have not been named. However, the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said they were a mother and her daughter, who both came from the French city.
A 38-year-old Chinese woman, identified so far only by the surname Zhou, who worked in the real estate industry, was killed in the attack, China's news agency said, adding that her son was injured and was in a stable condition in hospital.
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