Eurasia Press & News
Kenyan lawmakers investigating alleged security failings during the deadly assault on Nairobi’s Westgate mall by Islamist gunmen were due to meet on Tuesday, as leaders gathered to commemorate the 67 killed.
Politicians from both parliament’s national security and defence and foreign relations committees visited the mall on Monday afternoon, picking their way through shattered glass and pools of congealed blood in the main hall.
The four-day bloodbath at the upmarket shopping mall was brought to an end by Kenyan forces last Tuesday.
Dalmas Otieno, a member of the national security committee, said lawmakers would meet on Tuesday to “set up a programme” for the investigations, which are expected to last for at least several weeks.
It was expected they would meet after inter-faith prayers attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and led by leaders from the Muslim, Christian and Hindu communities.
The Red Cross on Monday said the number of people still unaccounted for stood at 39, down from the previous figure of 61, after bodies were either identified, or those believed to have been missing were found to have not been at the mall.
Kenyan and foreign investigators continued to comb the carcass of the Westgate mall for clues on the perpetrators of the raid and ensuing siege.
