Islamist Assertion

"There was a sudden very heavy burst of gunfire, and simultaneously three explosions, grenades I think, just below us on the pavement.
"Everybody jumped to the ground. The gunmen walked along and then up the stairs. They just started spraying gunfire left and right. Bullets came through to the terrace, there was a European gentleman on the table next to us with his wife, and he was hit in the stomach.
"We were there on the ground, not moving, not putting up our heads, for 30 minutes. The whole time that man was in such terrible pain. We helped him stuff napkins into the wound. It was horrific."
Bushan Vidyarthi , commercial printer

"I just watched one kid turn, then I heard gunfire, so many shots, really loud, and the kid was gone, I hope he just fell down under the table but I don't know.
"There was no time to think. There was just gunfire, then these two guys walked in from the car park, they had guns, big guns, more than an AK. I just ran, back through the kitchen, back into the cold room there, and we slammed the door closed."
Errol Fernandes, businessman

Reuters, Westgate shopping mall, Nairobi

The Westgate mall was targeted by members of the Somali terrorist militia al-Shabab, carrying AK-47s and brandishing grenades to deliver a message. There had been a warning, received long before the attack, that al-Shabab intended to  attack the mall.  As pay-back for Kenya sending its armed forces along with that of Ethiopia to roust the Islamist group from Somalia. That armed conflict has been partially successful but al-Shabab still retains a large segment of the country in their control.

The attackers, speaking Swahili and English called out for Muslims to identify themselves. When people responded they were ordered to speak in Arabic, or to recite a Koranic verse, or to state the name of the Prophet Mohammed's mother. If the test was successfully passed, people were allowed to leave; those who failed the tests were summarily executed, including children.

Noor Khamis / Reuters   A police officer holds a gun to provide cover for customers running out as a shooting took place at the Westgate mall in Nairobi on Sept. 21, 2013.

"A colleague of mine said he was Muslim and recited something in Arabic and they let him go as well. I saw a lot of children and elderly people being shot dead. I don't understand why you would shoot a five-year-old child", said Saadia Ahmed, a Kenyan radio presenter caught up in the assault, who said she witnessed people "say something in Arabic and the gunmen let them go."

In the car park on the rear roof of the building an Asian radio station hosted a yearly cooking show for children called the Junior Super Chief Competition, a popular local event. Counters had been set for 20 teams of three children each, from ages eight to 16 to take part in the contest. Around one in the afternoon the scene of children having fun with their parents was transformed to resemble "an abattoir", described as such by a security officer and former soldier.

Store managers desperately pulled men, women and children into their shops, pulling down metal shutters. Vaults of several banks provided refuge for some fleeing the carnage. Four theatres at the multi-screen cinema had lockable doors and they proved to be a good hiding place. Not so downstairs at the Nakumatt supermarket, crowded with Saturday shoppers with its open-plan, tall aisles, and where the gunmen went first.

"All we could hear were people screaming, more grenades, tear gas bangs and the helicopters overhead. And shooting, we heard a lot of shooting", said 37 year old Brit Rohini Vij who with her daughter Tenisha, 11, were on their way to the cooking event, but hid in the upholstery section of the supermarket, jamming the door tight with tables for protection.

"I hid under a car with my daughters, and I saw the men line up maybe 40 people and ask them who was Muslim, and if they were, to prove it by saying the name of the Prophet's mother. Those who got it wrong  were shot. There was blood everywhere. Two ladies under the car with me had gunshot wounds on their legs... A grenade was thrown and it rolled near us. My daughter said: 'Papa there's a grenade' - but thank God it didn't go off and I kicked it away."
Charles Karami, 41, IT engineer

"We hid inside a cupboard in the coffee shop. The staff then took us to the kitchen. We moved the fridges and freezers to block the passageways. It was a small space, people were panicking, children were crying. We were trying to calm people and tell them not to use their phones, or to keep them on silent. All the time we could hear gun fire. It was a war-like situation."
Surajit Borkakoty

"It was like firecrackers and then a loud bang and I knew at once there were guns and grenades. I tried to get all the kids, as many as I could, and run to a corner ... My two kids were with me at this point and suddenly a grenade went off and there was smoke and kids were screaming and the guy fired shots too.  One missed my son's head by just an inch as his sister had pulled him down, but unfortunately it bounced off the wall and the bullet hit the boy next to my son just as I was trying to pull him down."
Kamal Kaur, with East FM Kenya, hosing the children's cooking competition

Some people trapped inside the mall kept tweeting or texting friends on the outside throughout Saturday. Their batteries were dead by nightfall. Unknown to them then was that hundreds of people were at work through the night with preparations to aid them whenever the siege finally would conclude and come to its agonizing end.

Troops and armed police have completely surrounded the Westgate centre

At least 62 people are thought to have been killed and over 170 injured, although there are fears stated by officials that the death toll may yet mount. Kenyan security forces claim to have taken control of all floors of the Nairobi shopping centre. The ministry of the interior announced it to be unlikely that any hostages still remain unaccounted for. But it is not over until it finally is over, and up to midnight of Monday night, the situation has not yet been entirely resolved.

Kenyan police officers take position during the ongoing military operation at the Westgate Shopping Centre in the capital Nairobi, September 23, 2013.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya