Sunday, September 29, 2013

Kenya's Westgate Mall Terror Attack

This is the face of the "White Widow," which for many in the West became the personification of Kenya's Westgate Mall terrorist attackers.

One scenario that did take place during the unfolding drama was the now-semi-discredited identifying of some Americans as members of the gunmen involved in the attack as Americans.

One was said to be a Mainer. Allegedly. Supposedly. Reportedly. The distance from Portland, Maine to Mogadishu, Somali is 7368.6 miles.

Over 6000 Somalis have settled in Maine since 2001. Some, yes, are from Mogasdishu. Most have moved from various locations in the United States that have been less comfortable to their immigration than Maine. The majority of Somalis live in the Lewiston-Auburn area, but more and more have moved to Maine's biggest city, Portland.

Coming out of the 9/21 terrorist on the Westgate Mall in Nairboi, Kenya, were reports that several of the militants were non-Kenyans.

A Somali al-Qaeda affiliate tweeted a series of names on an account it reported used, that is before Twitter suspended the group. Al-Shabab has been creating new accounts each time they get shut down but a movement of pro-Kenyan tweeters has been tracking down the new accounts and complaining to Twitter.

“We received permission to disclose the names of our mujahideen inside #Westgate,” their Kenya mall attack account tweeted.

The following is the allegedly Al-Shabab-published list, which contained one Mainer.

Here's the list of names and where the individuals reportedly were from:

Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan, 22, from [Portland] Maine

Abdirizak Mouled 24, Ontario, Canada

Ahmed Mohamed Isse, 22, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Abdifatah Osman Keenadiid. 24, Minneapolis

Gen Mustafe Noorudiin. 27, Kansas City.

Mo Sayid Nuh, 25, Kismayu, Somalia

Sa'd Daud, 23, Damascus Syria

Shafie Die, 25, Tucson Arizona

Mohammed Bader, 25, Aleppo Syria

Ismael Guled, 23, Helsinki, Finland

Zaki Caraale Jama, 20, Hargeisa, Somalia

Shirdoon Nasir Ahmed, 24, of London

GB Qasim Said Musa, 22, Garissa, Kenya

Eliko Mamedoff, 27, Dagestan

Abdelkarem Ali Mohamed, 21, Illinois

Sources: 1, 2, 3.

All the talk of the "foreigners" at the Westgate Mall attack - as victims and as attackers - caused conflicting accounts about the appearance of the "White Widow" among the terrorists.


Whether “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite, a British widow of one of the 7/7 attackers who became an al-Qaeda paymaster, was involved in the attacks is still open for speculation. Is her body in the rubble of the three stories that collapsed at the mall? Did she escape and is a hunted fugitive? Was she not involved at all? Last year she was on the run in Kenya as international authorities tried to hunt her down.

Intriguing is the middle name of the identity Lewthwaite stole to use in her escape: Faye. (See more on the Fayette Factor here.)


The death toll in the terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Naibori, Kenya is at least 72 people, including six soldiers and five terrorists. It was a terrible event.

But clear information on the names and identities of who was killed, who were the attackers, and who is under arrest remain confusing.

Was a Mainer among them? Was the White Widow one of them? We may never know.




2 comments:

Andrew said...

A few syncs from the Midwest. In December 2007, Robert Hawkins shot 9 people at WESTROADS Mall in Omaha, Nebraska.
And the Kenya mall - WESTGATE - brings to mind a St. Louis sync, as that city is the Gateway to the West. One of the attackers was from Kansas City, MO, allegedly, and that is the biggest city between St. Louis and Omaha.

Prunella Jones said...

The White Widow sounds like the name of a comic book villain.

So, she masterminded the whole thing, huh? And they can't find her even though they have supposedly been searching for a long time? What, she's a graduate of the Osama Bin Laden school of Hiding? Yeah right.

Does this person even exist? I doubt it.