{UAH} 'No information' that Canadians involved in Kenya attack
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'No information' that Canadians involved in Kenya attack
Published Monday, September 23, 2013 9:56AM EDT
Last Updated Monday, September 23, 2013 6:04PM EDT
The federal government has "absolutely no information" to confirm reports that a Canadian was one of the gunmen in a deadly attack by al Qaeda-affiliated militants on a Nairobi shopping centre, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said, but he added that the investigation is ongoing.
The Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties to al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attack at the Westgate Mall, saying it is retribution for Kenyan forces' 2011 push into neighbouring Somalia.
The attack killed at least 62 people, including two Canadians.
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Paramedics run beside parked ambulances outside the Westgate Mall in Nairobi after heavy shooting started for the third time since the morning Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (AP / Sayyid Azim)
Security personnel keep watch as a flag flies at half staff in honour of Canadian Foreign Service officer Annemarie Desloges who was killed in Kenya's deadly mall attack on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (Fred Chartrand / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Kenyan security personnel and journalists duck behind a vehicle as heavy gunfire erupts from the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Sept. 23 2013. (AP / Jerome Delay)
A Kenyan policeman keeps crowds of onlookers back from the Westgate Mall, in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (AP / Ben Curtis)
Kenyan security personnel and journalists duck behind a vehicle as heavy gunfire erupts from the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (AP / Jerome Delay )
Kenyan security forces walk back from the Westgate Mall as black smoke billows above, following large explosions and heavy gunfire, in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (AP / Jonathan Kalan)
Smoke billows after reports of gunfire at Kenya's Westgate Mall where a hostage siege is in its third day in Nairobi, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013.
On Sunday, an unverified English-language Twitter account that purported to belong to the press office for al-Shabab posted what it claimed was a list of names of the terrorists who had stormed the mall.
The list includes a "24 y.o. from Ontario Canada." Also on the list were the names of three people from the U.S., one from Finland and one from the United Kingdom.
Twitter shut down the account after pressure from the international security community, CTV's Mercedes Stephenson reported earlier Monday. Stephenson added that her sources in the Foreign Affairs department said they have no confirmation that there was a Canadian involved but are investigating.
Alexander said later Monday that the government has "absolutely no information to confirm an involvement of any Canadian in this attack," but acknowledged that the investigation "is far from complete."
Reporters with the Associated Press and al Jazeera said their al Shabab sources have told them the Twitter account and names were fake. But CNN reported that its al Shabab source confirmed the Twitter posts were real.
The FBI is now actively investigating the claims.
Rick Roth, the spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, said his office is aware of the allegation made on the Twitter account and is co-operating with the investigation.
"We are aware of the reports but do not comment on operational matters of national security," he said in an emailed statement.
"Our government will provide its full support to any investigation of a terrorist act that does or may include Canadian citizens. Terrorists, regardless of their citizenship, must be punished for their cowardice and depravity."
The Kenya Red Cross confirmed Monday that at least 62 people were killed in the attack. Naguib Damji, 59, a businessman from Vancouver who was visiting a cousin in Nairobi, died, although family members said they were initially told he had died of a heart attack.
The Canadian government said Saturday that Annemarie Desloges, a 29-year-old Canadian diplomat working in Kenya, also died in the attack. The 29-year-old had been stationed in Nairobi while working as a liaison officer with the Canadian Border Services Agency.
Alexander, himself a former diplomat in Afghanistan, said his department was "crushed" to learn of Desloges' death.
"It's a huge loss for the department and for all of Canada," Alexander told CTV's Power Play.
"She really was one of our best and doing some of the hardest things that we ask Canadians to do abroad: visiting refugee camps, working on the integrity of our immigration programs."
Alexander also said that so far, the federal government has confirmed that two Canadians were injured in the attack.
On Monday afternoon, an American woman said her Canadian nieces suffered serious injuries in the attack.
Hodan Hassan told The Associated Press that her nieces -- Fardosa Abdi, 17, and Dheman Abdi, 16 -- were shopping at the Westgate Mall Saturday when gunmen stormed the building and began firing at shoppers.
According to Hassan, Fardosa is in critical condition with severe leg injuries and has undergone two operations. Dheman's leg was broken by a bullet, and she also suffered an arm injury in an explosion.
Hassan said the teens moved to Nairobi three years ago because their father runs a real estate business in Kenya.
Winnipeg resident Murtaza Xavery, who immigrated to Canada from Kenya in 1989, said his niece was trapped in the mall for seven hours until she was rescued by special forces.
Xavery told CTV Winnipeg that his niece tried to escape, but instead nearly ran into gunfire and had to hide out in a shop's storeroom.
"She was running with the rest of the people, but she fell," Xavery said. "After she fell, when she got up, she saw the group in front being shot at."
Terror recruitment
Al Shabab, which is fighting to spread Islamist law in Somalia, has actively tried to recruit members in the U.S. and Europe and several Canadians are suspected of having joined the extremist group.
New York Republican Rep. Peter King, a member of the House homeland security committee, said on Sunday the group had likely recruited as many as 50 people from Somali communities in the U.S.
"It's an extremely deadly organization, well-trained. And it's one of the only al Qaeda affiliates which has actively recruited here in the United States," King told ABC's "This Week."
"There are at least 40 to 50 Somali-Americans who have gone from the United States to Somalia to be trained. A number of them have been killed but there's others still alive."
He added: "We know there's probably still 15-20 Somali Americans who are still active over there. The concern would be if any of them have come back to the United States and would use those abilities here in the United States."
Alexander said foreign fighters going overseas to join terror groups "is a global phenomenon," and said it's a challenge for Canada and other world powers to keep track of recruiting and training going on in far-flung locales.
"Some of the motivating material, the ideological poison that's out there, is on the internet, and we can't control it completely or even at all sometimes," Alexander said of materials used to by terror groups to recruit young fighters from around the world. "And so we need to monitor these trends."
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