No clear end yet in Nairobi mall terror

Night fell Monday in Nairobi with no clear resolution of the standoff between Kenyan forces and terrorists at Westgate Shopping Mall.
Kenyan authorities sounded increasingly confident that they had brought the three-day standoff to a close with a final assault Monday, reassuring a nervous public that there was little chance of escape for any surviving Al-Shabaab gunmen who had terrorized the mall, killing at least 62 people.
"Taken control of all the floors. We're not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them," Kenyan police Inspector General David Kimaiyo said on Twitter.



But it wasn't clear Monday evening whether any hostages remained inside the four-story mall, and authorities had yet to sound the all-clear about six hours after the assault by Kenyan forces.
Gunfire echoed from the mall sporadically during the day, sending journalists and aid workers scrambling for cover. Thick heavy smoke -- from a fire set by terrorists, according to Kenyan authorities -- billowed into the air much of the afternoon.
Three terrorists have been confirmed killed since Saturday, the Interior Ministry said Monday. Eleven Kenyan soldiers have been wounded, according to the Kenya Defence Forces. More than 200 civilians have been rescued, the military said.
Away from the mall, Kenyan authorities said they had arrested more than 10 people for questioning in connection with the attack, including at least four taken into custody at an airport.
Authorities urged law enforcement officers to closely scrutinize travelers' documents, and the country's Immigration Department said in a tweet that it had increased security at entry and exit points.
Americans involved?
Before its Twitter account was suspended, Al-Shabaab issued a list of the names of nine people it said were among the attackers. It said three were from the United States, two from Somalia and one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the United Kingdom.
U.S. officials don't have any confirmation of Americans having been involved in the attack, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters, and a senior U.S. official told CNN that Al-Shabaab's claim that Americans were among its ranks of attackers at Westgate seemed less solid.
Intelligence analysts are poring over electronic intercepts in an effort to verify or knock down the terror group's claims, two law enforcement sources told CNN.
The FBI also was looking into the claims but has not yet confirmed them, law enforcement officials told CNN.
Federal officials and Somali-American leaders in Minneapolis have reported that Al-Shabaab has recruited young men there to go to Africa to fight.
The siege
The terrorist attack began at midday Saturday, Nairobi time, with an estimated 10 to 15 gunmen taking over the mall in what hospital volunteer Abiti Shah said witnesses told her was "like a Hollywood action scene."
"They just started firing in the air," Shah said, retelling the witness accounts.
A youth cooking competition was taking place at the mall at the time, and terrified shoppers fled for their lives as gunfire echoed through the building.
Witnesses said the gunmen went from store to store, shooting people, and then took hostages.
Survivor Bendita Malakia, a North Carolina woman who moved to Nairobi in July, told CNN affiliate WAVY that she took refuge behind the closed metal gates of a store with dozens of others.
"While we were back there, you could hear them methodically going from store to store, talking to people and asking questions," she said. "They were shooting, screaming. Then it would stop for a while and they would go to another store."
Al-Shabaab has claimed that the attackers targeted non-Muslims and vowed they would not negotiate for the hostages' lives. CNN security analyst Peter Bergen said the terrorists apparently took hostages only to prolong the siege and win more media attention.
The dead
Most of the dead were said to be Kenyans.
Four British citizens, two French nationals and two Canadians, including a diplomat, also died, their governments said.