Trial of Kenya Westgate mall attack suspects begins

The Kenyan Government on Wednesday in Nairobi began the trial of four suspects charged with helping al Qaeda-linked militants to launch a murderous attack on a Kenyan shopping mall in September 2013.
Reuters reports that Mohamed Abdi, Liban Omar, Hussein Hassan, and Adan Ibrahim are accused of giving support and shelter to gunmen who killed at least 67 people during the assault.
They all appeared in court at the start of their trial.
The prosecutors said the four committed terrorist act under Kenya’s anti-terrorism laws and used false documents.
The prosecutors said the Westgate guard, Stephen Juma, told the court that he saw three gunmen jump out of a white car that pulled up outside the mall and one of them immediately shot dead a shopper.
The four suspects denied all the charges.
The Kenyan police and Western experts who joined the investigation said four gunmen carried out the attack, which struck at the heart of east Africa’s biggest economy.
Reuters said the assault was claimed by the Somali Islamist rebel group, al Shabaab, and highlighted the militants’ reach beyond Somalia’s porous borders.
Reuters/NAN.