Westgate attack: The day Kenya’s terror fight became a global concern

Twelve years ago, the Westgate Mall was attacked by four masked Al-Shabaab militants, turning an ordinary Saturday afternoon into one of Kenya’s darkest moments. The siege, which lasted four days, left at least 67 people dead and more than 200 injured.

The attack began when the four, armed with AK-47 rifles and carrying bags filled with hand grenades and ammunition, stopped their vehicle outside the mall and began throwing grenades around the mall before opening fire on innocent shoppers, forcing them to scamper for safety.

The siege that lasted four days became Kenya’s second major attack in Nairobi, over a decade after the 1998 US Embassy bombing, which was directly linked to Al-Qaeda.

Then Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed linked a British woman “who had repeatedly been involved in terrorist activity” to the four masked men who attacked the mall.

The woman, Samantha Lewthwaite Louise, remains under the INTERPOL Red List, as being wanted by Kenya for having explosives and for conspiracy to commit a felony.

Further investigations would later reveal that the attack was planned in Somalia and executed in Nairobi, targeting the mall due to its ties to Israel. The militia group, however, while claiming responsibility for the attack, claimed that the attack was due to Kenya’s military incursion into Somalia.

The attack's planning began in 2011 when Al-Shabaab leaders based in Somalia, in collaboration with their associates in Kenya (Nairobi and Kakuma refugee camp), began studying the mall, its size, levels of security, and the population it attracts during the week and over the weekends.

The attackers managed to avoid detection by local and regional intelligence agencies by obtaining mobile phone lines that were found to have been registered in Nairobi and switched on days before the attack. They also used social media to communicate after the attack, which added to the loopholes that the state would later address in efforts to counter future attacks.

The four were later killed inside the mall, as was confirmed by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, local security agencies, as well as the FBI's legal attache in Nairobi at the time.

"We believe, as do the Kenyan authorities, that the four gunmen inside the mall were killed. Our ERT made significant finds, and there is no evidence that any of the attackers escaped from the area where they made their last stand. Three sets of remains were found. Also, the Kenyans were on the scene that first day and set up a very secure crime scene perimeter, making an escape unlikely. Additionally, had the attackers escaped, it would have been publicly celebrated and exploited for propaganda purposes by Al-Shabaab. That hasn’t happened," Dennis Brady, the FBI’s legal attaché in Nairobi at the time, said in an interview.

Two of the attack's planners, Mohammed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa, were later found guilty of planning, committing acts of terror, and helping a terrorist group and were sentenced to 33 and 18 years’ imprisonment.

A third suspect, Liban Abdullahi, was found not guilty and acquitted of the charge of being in Kenya illegally and possessing identification documents by false pretences. He was, however, abducted by unidentified gun-toting men after leaving the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) headquarters, where he had gone for clearance.

In 2015, Adan Garar, the mastermind of the attack, was killed in an airstrike in Southern Somalia.

In October 2016, an American court sentenced two women, Muna Osman Jama from Reston and Hinda Osman Dhirane from Kent, Washington, to 12 and 11 years, respectively, for conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.

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The two were found to have met regularly in a private chatroom with other accomplices to plan how to organise, send, and track money to financiers of Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya that went to funding two safe houses that were used by the militia to store weapons and prepare for the attack.

“Jama and Dhirane were recorded as they laughed as the carnage at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi was still taking place,” the investigations by the FBI revealed.

Whichever way it was viewed, the siege marked a turning point that thrust the country’s counter-terrorism efforts into the global spotlight and reshaped its national security posture and international security cooperation.

In the aftermath of the siege, Kenya’s security cooperation with international partners further intensified, with countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel providing training, intelligence, and technical support to bolster counterterrorism efforts.

Kenya also realised it was no longer collateral in someone else’s war but had been turned into a primary battleground in the global fight against terrorism. To protect itself and seal the loopholes that gave the attackers room to conduct the attack, Kenya passed the Security Laws (Amendment) Act 2014, giving security agencies expanded powers in surveillance, detention, and prosecution of terror suspects without the court's permission.

The state also introduced mandatory security checks in malls, hotels, and public spaces through bag checks, metal detectors, and scanners.

The private security sector was also formalised and under the Private Security Regulation Act (2016), in efforts to increase its personnel capacity towards the prevention of terrorism at their work stations.

To firm up loopholes in mobile use in the country, the government, through the Communications Authority, ordered a countrywide registration of all SIM cards with biometric data to fight crime perpetrated via SIM-based mobile devices.

These measures have helped thwart multiple attacks over the years, but with terrorism constantly evolving, they have been reinforced by tighter border controls and digital security regulations, all aimed at preventing repeat assaults.

A Multi-Agency Taskforce (MAT) comprised of the National Intelligence Service, Kenya Defence Forces, National Police Service, Kenya Prison Service, Directorate of Criminal Investigations, and Anti-Terror Police Unit to coordinate response to terror incidents was established and placed under the coordination of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

The Centra also developed the first Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) strategy that has since been reviewed as the country adopts a whole-of-society approach to the prevention of terrorism and violent extremism.

Meanwhile, today, Westgate Mall stands as a symbol of resilience and remains one of the busiest shopping complexes in the city,

As Kenya reflects on the Westgate attack 12 years later, the anniversary serves as a reminder that while terrorism remains a persistent global threat, the resilience of a nation depends not only on vigilance within borders but also on enduring partnerships across them.

In remembering the assault meted out upon the victims and the mall, Kenyans will today not only be honouring the lives lost but also will be strengthening their collective resilience, for the country is stronger than any act of terror.