International forensic teams join Kenyan mall carnage probe

September 26, 2013 02:48

Kenyan and foreign forensics teams scoured the wreckage of a Nairobi shopping mall today for bodies and clues after a four-day siege by Islamist gunmen left 67 dead and dozens more missing.

Rescuers and investigators wore face masks and some soldiers wrapped scarves around their mouths because of an overpowering stench inside the Westgate centre, once the capital's most upmarket mall. A large part of the complex has collapsed after heavy explosions and a fierce fire.

Across Kenya, flags flew at half mast at the start of three days of official mourning.

Somalia's Al-Shebab rebels claimed on Twitter that 137 hostages they had seized all died, figures impossible to verify and higher than the number of people officially registered as missing. The Al-Qaeda-linked group also accused Kenyan troops of using "chemical agents" and explosives to end the stand-off.

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