Her name is Samantha lewthwaite,
she's the MasterMind Behind the West Gate Attack.
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Speculation is running rampant about the infamous “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite–a British-born woman who has been connected to multiple terrorist attacks in the past–being behind the attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
The attack has killed at least 68 people, left over 100 others wounded, and is not over. Gunmen from al-Shabab are still in the the mall and are holding hostages.
Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked rebel group, al-Shabab, has claimed responsibility for the attack on Westgate, an affluent mall in Kenya’s capital city, that specifically targeted non-Muslims. The 10 to 15 al-Shabab extremists stormed the mall from two sides, throwing grenades and firing on civilians. The Islamic extremist rebels said the attack was retribution for Kenyan forces’ 2011 push into neighboring Somalia.
After the Sun published a story late Saturday asserting that Lewthwaite is “at the heart” of al-Shabab, several other U.K.-based news agencies followed up with the same angle.
“Samantha Lewthwaite, a mother of three from Buckinghamshire, is a senior figure in al Shabab who claimed responsibility for the Nairobi attack,” according to the Daily Star.
People in Kenya were saying on Twitter that Lewthwaite is likely behind the attack and may even be at the mall.
“FORMER HOSTAGES: Ringleader of #WestgateAttack is a lady with British accent. Might be the elusive widow,” said Robert Alai, a Kenyan blogger who has been live tweeting the situation for more than 36 hours.
Lewthwaite is the widow of Germaine Lindsay, who killed 56 (including himself) and injured hundreds of others by detonating bombs on three trains on the London subway system in 2005, along with two other Islamist terrorists.
She is suspected to be connected to multiple terror attacks, including a plot to attack tourist hotels in Mombasa–Kenya’s second-largest city–in late 2012.
Al-Shabab said on its new Twitter feed — after its previous one was shut down on Saturday — that Kenyan officials were asking the hostage-takers to negotiate and offering incentives.
“We’ll not negotiate with the Kenyan govt as long as its forces are invading our country, so reap the bitter fruits of your harvest,” al-Shabab said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Kenyan police said on Twitter that a “MAJOR” assault by security forces had started to end the two-day siege.
“This will end tonight. Our forces will prevail. Kenyans are standing firm against aggression, and we will win,” Kenya’s Disaster Operations Centre said.
However, it could be that Lewthwaite has nothing to do with the attack.
“Security sources and a Kenyan anti-terror officer denied any suggestions that the attack was linked to Samantha Lewthwaite,” reported the Daily Telegraph. “She is believed to be living with al-Shabab cells in Somalia.”
Other reactions on Twitter included:
One Mombasa resident took the denials by al-Shabaab that Lewthwaite was involved in the attack to implicate the opposite: ”Fact that the Al-Shabab handle [Twitter account] denied any involvement of a woman in the attack points more fingers at that white widow lady.”
Tom Githire, a Nigerian resident, said: “We almost got the White Widow terror leader last year, twice, and she escaped by bribing her way out..and her contacts in the police.”
Shamsa Birik, a development worker in Nairobi, said: “Somali journalists seem to be much ahead with news. They were tweeting about ‘white widow’ in the morning. Only that they tweeting in Somali. Also Somali websites have good leads on the info. Only that nobody knows they exist.”