Nairobi:Two Indians are among the 43 killed in a massacre quite similar to the 26/11 attacks by armed terrorists at a crowded, upscale mall in Nairobi in Kenya on Saturday.
Four Indians, including two women, have also been injured in the incident.
“Our senior diplomats are at two hospitals – MP Shah and Agah Khan. The High Commission is in touch with the locals and will assist in any way possible,”Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media.
Mr Akbaruddin also said that the government was not yet able to confirm if Indians were still trapped inside the mall.
The Indians who have been killed in the deadly attack have been identified as Sridhar Natarajan, 40, who was working with a pharma firm, and Paramshu Jain, 8, son of a bank manager, Mr Akbaruddin said.
The Somali Islamist group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack on the Kenyan capital’s Westgate mall, which is frequented by Westerners as well as Kenyans. Several foreigners, including a Canadian diplomat, were among the dead. The Al Qaeda-linked militants, who are locked in a stand-off with Kenyan security forces, are holding an unknown number of hostages.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said more than 39 people had been killed, among them close members of his own family. A senior government official said on his Twitter feed that more than 300 people had been wounded. The dead included children, and the wounded ranged in age from 2 to 78.
Mr Kenyatta said the security forces were engaged in a “delicate operation,” with the top priority being to safeguard the lives of people being held.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said there were no Americans among the dead but that several US citizens had been hurt and the wife of a US diplomat working for the US Agency for International Development was killed.
“The perpetrators of this heinous act must be brought to justice, and we have offered our full support to the Kenyan Government to do so,” he said in his statement.
Al Shabaab, which is battling Kenyan and other African peacekeepers in Somalia, had repeatedly threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Nairobi did not pull its troops out of the Horn of Africa country.
The group appeared to taunt the security forces, saying on its official Twitter handle @HSM_Press that there would be no negotiations whatsoever with Kenyan officials over the standoff.
“10 hours have passed and the Mujahideen are still strong inside #Westgate Mall and still holding their ground. All praise is due to Allah!”, the group said.
The group’s Twitter account was suspended shortly after its claim of responsibility and threats against Kenya. Twitter’s terms of service forbids making threats.
