Maybe more difficult to infiltrate the additional numbers (people, weapons and ammo) without drawing attention.
The end result is that they achieved their aim, got away with it and exposed the Kenyan military as being something like the Keystone Cops.
Originally Posted by jmm99
Interesting insights from the NYC police report on the Westgate Mall attack that adds insult to injury.
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_n...says-nypd?lite
Only four shooters at Kenya mall and they may have escaped alive, says NYPD
According to the NYPD’s reconstruction of events, the four attackers operated in two-man teams and coordinated their movements by cellphone. After throwing three grenades and entering the mall, they used AK-47s in single-fire mode to shoot their victims. More than one-third of the dead were attending a children’s cooking contest that was being held in tents in the mall’s roof parking lot. The attackers killed them within 15 minutes of arriving at the mall.
The report said the attackers had grenades and several hundred bullets in eight magazines, but no body armor, handguns or heavy weapons. They did not try to take hostages, but killed as many victims as they could, sparing some who could recite Muslim prayers or name the Prophet Mohammed’s mother. A Russian hand grenade was found on the roof with the pin removed but unexploded.
CRS report
Follow this link http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R43245_20131114.pdf to the CRS titled The September 2013 Terrorist Attack in Kenya:
In Brief...good background material.
A Kenyan on why
An op-ed in the NYT by a Kenyan community worker and worth a read, familiar themes, so no surprises.
It ends with:Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/op..._20140109&_r=0If we pursue an antiterrorism strategy based on tactical strikes, it will only further a cycle of violence. The perpetual sense of anger experienced in urban poverty will ensure that there are always new terrorist leaders to replace those who are killed. The war on terror can be won only through education, promise and real opportunities.
It is time to give young men like my friends, and like those today living in urban slums, hope. That is the only way to end the violence that preys on our cities’ most vulnerable.
davidbfpo
The trail for the Al-Shabaab supporters during the WestGate Mall attack is ongoing in Kenya, but sufficient details haven't been released in the media yet from the trail to do even a cursory analysis based on the testimony. What I did find interesting was the number of terrorist attacks in Kenya since that attack that received little or no media coverage in the West. Since terrorists thrive on media coverage I see that is a positive. To be expected, Kenya's ongoing crackdown on potential Islamic terrorists may over reach and generate anger with Muslims who were previously not associated with extremism. Also, still reports coming out about torture, but nothing credible as of yet. One would assume if it was the case it would come out in testimony. Finally, Business Insider interviews a member of Al-Shabaab in Somalia who provides a lot of insider detail on the planning for the attack. If true, there is a lot that hasn't made main stream media yet, and probably won't with the more pressing issues of Ukraine, the missing Malaysian Airline, Syria, etc., but this is important.
Is Kenya's proactive approach over stepping?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Afric...-Muslim-youths
Will Kenya mosque assault radicalize Muslim youths?
Demand is high in Kenya to route out radicals and stop extremism since the Al Shabab attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall. But there's growing concern that heavy handed tactics may backfire.
However it started, police stormed the religious structure with boots on and began firing tear gas and live bullets at youth, some of whom fought back with knives. After a melee that captured national attention, police arrested 129 people, including 21 minors, some only 12 years old. Dozens were injured, and rioting continued for days as wounded succumbed to injuries. By Feb. 6, seven Muslims and one police officer lay dead.Testimony at the trial.To be sure, Kenya’s security forces are under great pressure to deal with a resurgence of terror. In the months since Westgate, there’s been a deadly bombing on a Nairobi public bus, a blast at Nairobi’s international airport, and numerous grenade attacks have maimed civilians around Mombasa, including in a popular beach resort town.
http://mg.co.za/article/2014-03-06-w...oting-children
Westgate mall terrorists argued over shooting children
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/13...attack-updatedKotia then told the court that one of the attackers said "we Mujahedeen don't kill small children and women".
But seconds later another gunman said "but you have been killing our children and women in Somalia" and the shooting resumed.
Kenya adjourns trial of Somalis on Westgate Mall attack-UPDATED
The following interview covers more than Westgate Mall, but the first of three pages focuses on how that planned and supported the attack. Accuracy can't be verified, but many of the claims are logical, a few seem to be simply boastful."The suspects were not at Westgate on 21st September when the terrorist attack occurred," defense lawyer Mbugua Mureithi told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
"They have never been to Westgate. And they don't know the people who attacked Westgate. So there is no connection between the suspects I am representing and those who attacked Westgate."
http://www.businessinsider.com/al-sh...-2014-2?page=1
First They Attacked A Mall, Then They Repelled SEAL Team Six: The Rise of Al Qaeda 2.0
Law enforcement has been eager to paint the attackers as an amateurish group of opportunists who took advantage of lax security at the mall. By contrast, Jamal told me the attack had been under discussion for three years, since the African Union Mission to Somalia, AMISOM, which includes troops from Kenya, Ethiopia and several other African nations, initiated an incursion, known as Operation Linda Nchi, into Southern Somalia in an effort to drive Shabaab militants from the area.
Jamal confirmed that only four gunmen entered the mall on Sept. 21, as Kenyan officials later determined by examining closed-circuit video footage. But he added that the reason the attack was so successful and lasted so long is that other members of al Shabaab were already positioned inside, having infiltrated the Westgate as vendors, bribing police and mall security to look the other way.
Again a politically driven military operation carried out in haste that fails and not only brings the skill and professionalism of the special forces involved into doubt/question ... but probably more importantly offers AQ a propaganda coup on a golden platter.
I hope no one in the military would call SOF capability into question over one operation that wasn't successful. The nature of high risk ops is that they're high risk and failure is a possibility. Yes a propaganda victory for Al-Qaeda but one for us also.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks