Westgate Mall attack, Nairobi
At about midday on Saturday 21 September 2013, gunmen stormed the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons. The Somali group al-Shabab claimed the attack, saying it was a response to Kenyan troops in Somalia. After a four-day siege, President Uhuru Kenyatta said 61 civilians and six members of the security forces had died, five attackers had been killed and 11 suspects were in custody. He called the toll provisional because three floors of the mall had collapsed.
Tasmanian-born architect Ross Langdon, who held Australian and UK citizenship, was killed along with his partner Elif Yavuz, who was eight and a half months pregnant. DFAT confirmed that one Australian citizen had been killed. Several Australians escaped, including lawyer Heidi Edwards, who described fleeing through a staff door. Acting Foreign Minister Andrew Robb said: "The Australian Government has condemned this brutal terrorist attack in the strongest possible terms". Consular staff contacted Australians living in Nairobi and advised them to take extreme caution.
In October 2020 a Kenyan court convicted Mohammed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa of helping the attackers and acquitted a third man. The BBC reported sentences of 33 and 18 years. AP reported 26 and 11 years, noting the court took into account the seven years they had already spent in custody.
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