At Least One British and Three American Residents Participated in Kenya’s Mall Attack

At least three U.S. residents participated in the attacks on Westgate Mall in Nairobi on Saturday, according to an unofficial report by Kenyan authorities.

According to ABC, Amina Mohamed, Kenya's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview to the show "Newshour" that at least three Americans, with ages between 18 and 19, and a British woman who "had already done this several times" were among the members of Al Shabab, a militant Somali Islamist group who attacked a Nairobi mall.

Ms. Mohamed's statements to the U.S. network PBS were announced Monday afternoon, Sept. 23, a few hours after the Kenyan army took control of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, although several assailants remain entrenched in one of the mall's halls.

In the interview, Ms. Mohamed also said that the Americans who allegedly participated in the shooting are from Somali and Arabic origins. One of them was from Minnesota, she further said. However, Ms. Mohamed didn't specify if they have U.S. citizenship or not.

The same source expressed that U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, stated authorities are working to clarify if a U.S. citizen was involved in the attacks, but she didn't elaborate any further.

Meanwhile, Univision said that the American newspaper The Washington Post had retaken several witnesses' testimonials which stated that the Islamist attackers were armed with sophisticated machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles. They also ensured that most of the extremists who took control of the shopping mall were young and spoke English.

Although Kenyan authorities talked about the release of all the hostages, on international media, testimonials of those who have been rescued, saying that there are still more hostages inside the mall, raises doubt.

According to the latest report provided by RTV, at 9:30 a.m., local time, the clash between attackers and authorities continues. This has generated international uncertainty, especially after the first statements of Kenya's government claiming to have "control" of the Westgate Mall.