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AL-SHABAAB

Norway missionaries escape Kenya mall attack

Four Norwegian missionaries escaped the massacre at Nairobi's Westgate Mall with two of them spending six terrifying hours trapped in a ladies' toilet.

Published: 22 September 2013 20:37 CEST
Norway missionaries escape Kenya mall attack
Øystein Iversen and Elisabet Elvrum Iversen - Norwegian Lutheran Mission
Henning Boganes (36) and Roger Hertzenberg (45) from the evangelical Oslo Christian Centre, watched as gunmen from Somalia's Al Shabaab terror group entered the mall, guns firing, on the floor below them.  They then ran to a ladies' toilet, where they hid with around twenty other people. 
 
"Many of those around us were in total shock," Boganes told VG newspaper. "People froze when we heard noises in the hallway. But I am a Christian and have confidence in God – a confidence that I have protection – so I felt very calm."
 
Elisabet Elvrum Iversen and Øystein Iversen,  a missionary couple with the Norwegian Lutheran church, spent several hours hiding in a warehouse at the back of the mall before they were rescued by police. 
 
By Sunday evening, 59 people had been confirmed dead, and at least 175 wounded.  A dozen militants were estimated to remain active in the shopping centre, along with an unknown number of hostages. 
 

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AL-SHABAAB

Norwegian cleared of al-Shabaab Kenya attack

A Norwegian-Somali arrested in Kenya in connection with two bloody Al-Shabaab massacres has been released after Nairobi police determined there was insufficient evidence against him.

Published: 11 February 2015 13:00 CET
Norwegian cleared of al-Shabaab Kenya attack
Bodies of some of victims killed in an al-Shabaab attack on a quarry in Mandera. Photo: EPA / DANIEL IRUNGU
Mohamud Jamal, 40, told Norway’s NRK that he had been on holiday in Nanyuki, near the Somali border, when he was arrested for reasons “beyond comprehension”.  
 
“They never said a word about exactly why I was arrested,” Jamal told NRK. “I'm a bit angry, because I went through hell there. It is unfair. They have taken the wrong person and they could at least have said sorry. But I am glad that I am free.” 
 
Jamal was one of six Somalis on trial in Nairobi last week for their alleged role in carrying out two massacres. 
 
Al-Shabaab terrorists stormed a bus in Mandera, north-east Kenya, in November last year, executing everyone who could not cite verses from the Koran. 
 
Two weeks later, they attacked a quarry in the same region, killing the 36 workers they surprised while they slept.
 
Jamal said that his Kenyan police interrogator has realised he had not been involved in the attacks as soon as he was sent to Nairobi from Nanyuki, the town where he was first arrested. 
 
“After a while, the person that interrogated me said that I really should not have been arrested. He said it would work out,” he said. 
 
The Norwegian citizen was in prison for more than a week before he was released on Friday. 
 
"The lawyer told the police that they had nothing on me and on Friday afternoon a policeman said to me: 'Now you are exonerated and you can leave whenever you want'". 
 
“We are aware that he has been released after a decision by the Kenyan authorities,” Eskil Sivertsen from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry told NRK. “The embassy in Nairobi has assisted in the usual way.” 
 
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