Twenty two months after the Westgate mall attack, 1.7B Kenya shillings has been used to revive the Westgate. Now Kenya’s Westgate mall is ready to reopen its doors to the public. In 2013, 4 known Al-Shabaab Militants sparked a four-day siege in which large parts of the shopping centre were destroyed amid heavy fighting and a fire.
Two years later and the doors are reopening. The Westgate management in conjunction with Nakumatt Holdings management set up a media tour on the 14th of July ahead of the opening set for the 18th.
The Governor for Nairobi Evans Kidero was the guest of honour at the event were he talked about the bravery by the Kenyan people
The attack that started on 21 September 2013, lasted until 24 September, resulted in at least 67 deaths, including four attackers. Over 175 people were reportedly wounded in the mass shooting, with all of the gunmen reported killed.
The Islamist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the incident, which it characterised as retribution for the Kenyan military’s deployment in the group’s home country of Somalia. Many media outlets also suspected the insurgent group’s involvement in the attack based on earlier reprisal warnings it had issued in the wake of Operation Linda Nchi from 2011 to 2012.
