In one case, shocked by the audacity of four-year-old British boy Elliot Prior, who scolded a gunman for shooting and injuring his mother, the militant showed mercy and spared his life.
On the roof, a British man with close-cropped hair and a background in the SAS ushered the survivors through a side entrance to the third floor Java Coffee shop, from where a fire escape led to the ground floor and safety. At the same time, a shaven-headed man who two witnesses said was Israeli had reached Hakim and others on the second floor.
The man asked Hakim if he knew how to use a weapon and offered him a handgun. Along with at least a dozen others, the clerk was led up one floor and out through the fire escape. At this point there was no police cordon and no screening process for survivors coming out of the mall. Intelligence officials believe that at least two attackers were able to escape in the confusion. Wearing black body armour and helmets, armed with machine guns and trained for hostage and siege situations, they were the best-equipped to deal with the attackers, and were able to pin them down inside Nakumatt.
The first army units also arrived, including infantry from the Embakasi base outside Nairobi and US-trained Kenyan rangers from their base in the Rift Valley. Behind the scenes a power struggle was emerging between the police chief David Kimaiyo and the army head, Julius Karangi, over whose forces would take the lead.
First to move in was the recce group, followed shortly afterwards by Kenyan army KDF soldiers. With no radio communications between army and police units, KDF soldiers opened fire on what they thought was an armed suspect — but who was in fact one of the commanders of the recce group.
After this all units were pulled out of the mall and for the next two hours the operation came to a standstill as heated arguments raged that went all the way to the State House and the office of Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's president.
As night fell and no nightvision equipment was available, it was decided that the police chief, Kimaiyo, would be in overall charge of the operation. They came under fire from a sniper on one of the upper floors and were forced to withdraw after at least two of their men were shot, one of them fatally. The police also had to deal with a growing media presence as news crews set up live points in the roadside furniture market looking down Peponi Road towards the shopping centre.
Regular bursts of gunfire punctuated the morning, with one official saying that the operations were aimed at depleting the militants' ammunition store.
Officials estimated the number of attackers to be as many as 15, but no fewer than Volunteers brought food and medical supplies, and people camped overnight in the basement car park. Johnson Mungai, a young pilot whose two sisters and grandfather were still inside, said he had given his phone to police so that they could contact his relatives.
They received a text message in the morning from his grandfather who was hiding in the Planet Yogurt shop, that read: "How far have you got? The year-old became increasingly angry with the authorities' handling of the crisis. The Kenyan police is saying they don't need help and should be allowed to do their work.
What work have they done? They were later identified as Israeli commandos. Kenya's recce group re-entered the mall, with some officers carrying rocket propelled grenade launchers. Over the next two hours two loud explosions were heard from within the mall.
The last of Joshua Hakim's three American friends inside the mall — who asked not to be named — emerged. He had been hiding in the cold storage room of one of the restaurants on the second floor food court. Overnight, Kimaiyo had been forced to cede control of the operation to Julius Karangi, who had argued for a more aggressive approach throughout the crisis. By now a command centre had been set up in the Ukay shopping centre opposite the vehicle entrance to Westgate.
A British team was present in the room, including officers from the Metropolitan police's anti-terror unit along with Israeli officials. The fire was still smouldering a week later. Helicopters that had been hovering just over the roof the previous day began to circle higher overhead. We're not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them.
A generation gap between the president's mainly US-educated, younger staffers and the senior staff in the army and police emerged. The rooftop car park area where much of the worst of the carnage took place had collapsed into the floors below.
Officials first claimed that the militants had set off explosives and set fire to mattresses inside Nakumatt supermarket. That explanation was changed to say that a wire-guided anti-tank shell, an RPG-7, had been fired at one of the support pillars in an attempt to distract a sniper during an operation to rescue survivors from the mall.
After the attack several Kenyan army soldiers corroborated this version of events. The court also found the two owned terrorism materials, knew about the attack and communicated with the men who carried out the attack. Thirty-one-year-old John Wangombe, who worked at the mall, survived the attack. He welcomed the convictions.
Another survivor, year-old Ben Mulwa, was in his vehicle when the gunmen attacked the mall. He abandoned his car, seeking safety, but came face-to-face with one of the attackers, who aimed a gun at him and fired. Miraculously, the gunman missed. Mulwa said this conviction can help Kenyan youths who engage in terrorism to think about their future.
The judge will sentence the convicts later this month. The two men are facing jail time of up to 20 years. Search Search.
G, will be incharge of security at the re-opened Westgate mall. It boasts 25 specialist staff supported by about 55 guards from the G4S security firm.
According to Cohen, one of the I. G employees who did not wish to be identified by his full name, new security features will include explosive detectors, luggage X-rays, scanners to check underneath cars, bollards to prevent car bombs, and bullet-proof guard towers. Agina Ojwang, a Kenyan analyst told DW in an interview that Westgate's security situation is more pronounced and much more visible than any other shopping mall in the country.
But Ojwang said the people who frequent these malls have not been given any guidance on how to react when there is an attack. Despite the security improvements at Westgate, Mill Dodia, a businessman who lives nearby, told DW he was still not impressed. Johnson Mwangi, a teacher who also lives close to the mall is of the opinion that although the place is ready for re-opening, the authorities should make the security of both the clients and workers a top priority.
I think they should check on security. So many people lost their lives," Mwangi said. John Njenga, a florist operating near Westgate said the attack on the shopping center had diminished the fame and popularity of it. He said it now required heightened security if it is to regain its past glory. They [authorities] don't seem [to be] concerned about the security". While taking reporters on a tour before the re-opening, Evans Kidero, the Nairobi governor, described the Westgate attacks as "one of the saddest days in Kenyan history" but praised the mall's re-opening as a triumph of national resilience in the face of militant attacks.
Paul Macharia, a regular shopper told DW he would continue shopping at the mall. Several young Kenyans have been lining up in front of the mall hoping to get a job. Rosemary Muthoni, a year-old who was among the job-seekers admitted that she was worried about security. Over the last two years, more than people have died in Kenya as a result of al-Shabab attacks. In one of the worst attacks, people, most of them students, were killed in Garissa University by Islamist gunmen in April. The US has warned of more attacks ahead of President Obama's visit.
Commanders of the Somali militant group al-Shabab have been killed in airstrikes in the border region of Gedo, according to reports.
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