Zee Media Bureau
Nairobi: While admitting that some of the Kenyan soldiers looted the Westgate shopping centre while rescue operations were on during the Islamist terror attack inside the mall, for the first time Kenya’s Army has admitted that its troops looted the mall.
The al Qaeda linked gunmen had killed at least 67 people trapped inside the mall.
According to the news reports, Kenya`s Army chief Julius Karangi said that two soldiers have been sacked for looting stores during the massacre, with a third under investigation.
Earlier, a controversy broke when a CCTV footage was posted on the `youtube` which showed Kenyan troops pausing to help themselves to the contents of the supermarket and other shops while gunmen from al Shabaab were still at large inside the building.
Meanwhile, Kenyan police are holding five people over last month`s attack on Nairobi`s Westgate mall, a top officer said, adding they hoped to charge them soon.
The Somali Islamic extremist group al Shabaab claimed responsibly for the mall attack, saying it was in retribution for Kenya`s military involvement in Somalia.
However, all gunmen -- total just four, not the dozen that security forces had initially reported -- are understood to have died during the attack.
Soon after the attack began on Sept 21, Kenyan officials put a security cordon around the mall, allowing only security forces and a few government personnel to pass through.
When the attack was over, some who owned shops inside the mall complained of looting.
