Hostage standoff at Kenya mall continues
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E-mail Xinhua, September 22, 2013
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The hostage standoff between gunmen and Kenyan security forces has continued into Sunday, about 20 hours after the shooting rampage broke out at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 39 people. [Xinhua Photo] |
![The hostage standoff between gunmen and Kenyan security forces has continued into Sunday, about 20 hours after the shooting rampage broke out at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 39 people. [Xinhua Photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20130922/001ec949c22b13a8ce4509.jpg "The hostage standoff between gunmen and Kenyan security forces has continued into Sunday, about 20 hours after the shooting rampage broke out at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 39 people. [Xinhua Photo]")
The hostage standoff between gunmen and Kenyan security forces has continued into Sunday, about 20 hours after the shooting rampage broke out around Saturday noon at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 39 people.
Gunshots can still be heard from the mall from time to time. Kenyan security forces are entering the mall, trying to rescue the hostages alive.
The number of hostages is still unknown, Kenya's KTN TV station reported, citing the Kenya National Disaster Operation Center. Hostages are held in multiple locations and gunmen are contained in one location, the report said.
The husband of a lady who is trapped in the Nakumatt supermarket on the ground floor of the mall told Xinhua that she sent him a message through cellphone which said there are about 60 to 70 people trapped in the supermarket. The message was sent around 3:43 a.m. Relatives of some other hostages said there are many bodies in the supermarket.
A Kenyan police officer told Xinhua that the gunmen have been cornered but the standoff is still going on as they are holding hostages.
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address on late Saturday that the gunmen killed at least 39 people and injured more than 150 others.
The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) secretary general Abbas Gullet told Xinhua earlier that rescue operation is still underway, expressing fears that there would be more casualties since some of the shoppers are still holed up in the mall. However, Kenya's interior ministry is not sure whether there are hostages inside the mall.
KRCS officials also told Xinhua that currently there are no Chinese casualties in the attack. The Chinese Embassy in Kenya's capital Nairobi said that the preliminary findings showed that there are no Chinese casualties so far in the attack.
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