Westgate Mall attackers claim they killed 137

By Cyrus Ombati

NAIROBI,KENYA: Kenyans and the world are waiting anxiously over the death toll of the Westgate shopping mall attack moments after attackers claimed they killed 137 people in the deadly massacre.

Families who reported missing persons are equally traumatized as forensic experts delayed the retrieval of bodies from the ill-fated mall in the heart of the Kenyan capital.

The BBC and Associated Press reported on their twitter accounts that the murderous Al-Shabaab gang reported that it had snuffed out life of 137 people.

The government has however dismissed the claim with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s spokesman Manoa Espisu referring to it as fake.

"We have discovered some claims about total deaths from the attack, some of the claims are fake and we have to wait until the experts count all the bodies and do analysis," he said.

According to Standard Digital Reporter, forensic experts are still in the mall getting information on how many bodies are still trapped in the rubles.

There are more than 60 people said to be missing according to Red Cross.

Security forces reported on Tuesday that voices of hostages were heard during the final moments of take over of the besieged mall by joint security forces as the building’s walls caved in after a mysterious fired burned a section of it.

Six Kenya Defence Forces soldiers are among the 69 dead according to official records released by the government authorities. The soldiers were involved in the rescue efforts to free the hostages held by the gun-men.

It is believed the final death toll will be known once the forensic experts okay the building for retrieval of bodies buried inside. Witnesses who escaped to safety reported dozens of bodies lay on floors of the-ill-fated mall after the Saturday attack.