Anger in Kenya over CCTV footage purporting to show soldiers looting Nairobi mall

Updated

Security camera footage of soldiers appearing to loot goods during last month's Nairobi shopping mall siege has infuriated Kenyans who had initially praised troops for their courage in battling the attackers.

A front page headline over the weekend in Kenya's biggest selling newspaper The Nation read "Shame of soldiers looting Westgate" under the caption "caught on camera".

Gunmen from the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab group massacred 67 people when they raided the upmarket Westgate mall, hurling grenades and spraying bullets at shoppers over what they said was punishment for Kenya sending troops to Somalia.

Closed-circuit television footage made public over the weekend shows soldiers taking goods that appear to be unpacked mobile phone boxes from a phone store while others are in a mobile money transfer shop.

Key points CCTV footage allegedly shows soldiers stealing from mall

Soldiers with plastic bags seen leaving Westgate mall

Kenyans angry after initially hailing military response

Body of fourth suspected attacker pulled from rubble

Officials believe only four to six gunmen involved in attack

A couple of metres from the shop, a pool of spattered blood identifies the spot where a wounded man, crawling on the floor, was shot five times at point-blank range by an unidentified gunman, another scene captured on video.

Soldiers with plastic shopping bags are also seen leaving the Nakumatt supermarket, where prosperous Kenyans could buy anything from TV sets to French cheese, at a time when the Islamist rebels were still holed up inside the mall.

Emmanuel Chirchir, a spokesman for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), said that a news conference, organised for Wednesday, would deal with looting allegations arising from the latest CCTV footage to emerge.

Attackers' bodies found in mall rubble

Kenya's interior minister Ole Lenku said three bodies of "terror suspects" had been recovered from the mall during the week and on Sunday the body of what was believed to be a fourth attacker was pulled from the rubble.

Mr Lenku said the government would not comment on the nationalities of the attackers until forensic investigations were complete.

Four AK47 assault rifles and 11 magazines used by the gunmen were also recovered, he added in a statement.

Diplomats and Kenyan official now believe that the attack may have involved as few as four to six gunmen, down from initial estimates of more than 10.

A parliamentary committee set up to probe the four-day siege said the KDF "never participated in looting" but local press have criticised what until now has been considered one of Kenya's most professional institutions.

Another scandal for Kenyans used to corruption

Many Kenyans, used to scandals and cover ups by a corrupt political elite, doubt they will find out exactly what happened during the siege.

"The CCTV footage made me lose faith in KDF, who we all strongly supported after they crushed al Shabaab in Somalia," said one Nairobi-based doctor who did not want to be identified.

"Now there is some sort of a cover up taking place."

The September 21 attack - the worst on Kenyan soil since Al Qaeda bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing more than 200 people - initially united Kenya's multi-ethnic community and sparked an outpouring of support for the military.

But support for security services evaporated as shop owners returned to the mall to find their stores ransacked, with many reporting phones, expensive Swiss watches and designer suits stolen.

Cash from tills was also missing, traders said.

"It was an injustice. These are people that we are looking up to for security and they let us down," said Anne Njiru, a teacher.

Reuters

Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, law-crime-and-justice, kenya

First posted