Kenya mall massacre: Survivors give chilling accounts of Al Shabab terrorists killing innocents, mutilating bodies

Nairobi: Even as the Somalian terror group Al Shabab posted 15 names online of its "brave" fighters, the survivors of the world's deadliest shopping mall siege gave disturbing accounts of how the terrorists killed and maimed innocents and mutilated their bodies in order to hide their identities. On Sunday night the terrorists were holed on the second and third floors of a storage warehouse in the Westgate mall, even as Kenyan soldiers, supported by US, Israeli and British security experts tried to regain control of the mall. Kenyan forces have so far claimed to have taken control of the ground and first floors, with nearly 15 people reportedly taken hostages by the jehadi terrorists. People barricaded themselves inside storerooms, while others hid in boxes or even played dead on Saturday night as the standoff continued.All were fleeing the bloody massacre unfolding around them as they saw terrified fellow shoppers mercilessly executed after being singled out as non-Muslim.Men, women and children were lined up and then gunned down with AK-47s after failing to name the Prophet Mohammed's mother or recite passages from the Koran – sure-fire proof they were ‘kafirs', or non-believers.Others fled and sought refuge in shops, bank vaults and store rooms as grenades exploded and bullets fired around them. The fortunate ones managed to emerge blood-splattered and terrified, with the wounded pushed out in shopping trolleys.The terrorists were highly organised, with huge amounts of ammunition as well as night vision equipment. They destroyed CCTV cameras inside the shopping mall, meaning they cannot be watched.With horrific cruelty, they reportedly cut the hands off the bodies of their victims and burned their faces to try to conceal their identities.A British tourist from Surrey, Hannah Chisholm, 21, described the terror and confusion at the Westgate Mall, which she was visiting while on holiday.She said: ‘We kept running to different places but the shots were getting louder so we barricaded ourselves along with about 60 others into a large storeroom. ‘There were children hiding with us as well as someone who had been shot. At that point we thought the gunmen were thieves so we assumed they wouldn't try to reach the storeroom.'A tourist from New Zealand Greg Aldous described how he hid in a box and watched a man being gunned down 30 feet away from him. He said the terrorists ‘were coming in through the front, they were coming in through the back and we were just sitting ducks'.He added: ‘These are Islamic fundamentalist nutcases. They just shot and killed anybody. They are horrible.' He eventually escaped under the cover of darkness to a lorry-loading depot where people were panicking and screaming. ‘My instinct was to hide and I jumped into a large box containing supermarket cartons and hid there,' he said. ‘I only survived the massacre because I kept out of sight.‘If they had found me… I'm white, so I'm dead. They're not even going to think twice. They hate your skin colour.' Radio presenter Saadia Ahmed was one of the 1,000 who managed to flee. She said: ‘I witnessed a few people get up and say something in Arabic and the gunmen let them go. ‘A colleague of mine said he was Muslim and recited something in Arabic and they let him go as well.'But she added: ‘I saw a lot of children and elderly people being shot dead. I don't understand why you would shoot a five-year-old child.They were firing at random at anyone who tried to escape.'One Indian mother, Kamal Kaur, who had been shopping with her family, posted a string of shocking tweets about her ordeal when she got home. ‘I just washed my hair and wailed like a child. Blood in my hair. Not mine. That little boy who died right next to me… My son almost had his head blown off. Missed by an inch. Hit wall. Bounced and killed the little boy next to him.'Kenyan IT engineer Charles Karani, 41, said: ‘I hid under a car with my daughters, and I saw the men line up maybe 40 people and ask them who was Muslim, and if they were, to prove it by saying the name of the Prophet's mother. Those who got it wrong were shot. There was blood everywhere.‘Two ladies under the car with me had gunshot wounds on their legs. Other people for sure are dead. I saw four people lying, not moving.‘A grenade was thrown and it rolled near us. My daughter said, “Papa, there's a grenade” – but thank God it didn't go off and I kicked it away.'One woman, writing on Twitter under the name Shirley Ghetto, told how she was hiding under some mattresses in the mall. She wrote: ‘Is it safe to come out from hiding? It's quiet. Please keep me updated.'Fred Ngoga Gateretse, an official with the African Union, crouched on the floor and watched gunmen firing at shoppers and Kenyan police. ‘Believe me, these guys were good shooters,' he said. ‘You could tell they were trained.'One said: ‘It is all being controlled by this muzungu [Swahili for white] woman. She is ordering them what to do. We are getting closer to them.'The massacre began on Saturday shortly before midday Witnesses said, how terrorists, their faces hidden with Islamic scarves, stormed the shopping mall and started tossing grenades and spraying shoppers with AK-47s.The gunmen ordered all Muslims to leave before carrying out rudimentary tests to see if hostages could recite the Koran and name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.Terrified shoppers fled and hid in storerooms, restaurants and a cinema, with the wounded being carried out in shopping trolleys. Shoppers who were able to prove they were Muslim were among the 1,000 who escaped unharmed, while those who failed were shot for being ‘kafir', a derogatory term for non-Muslims. One man, who hid in a box of cartons, said: ‘If they had found me... I'm white and so I'm dead. They hate your skin colour.'Those killed so far vary in age from two to 78.A spokesman for Al Shabaab, the East African arm of Al-Qaeda, said all Britons in Kenya are ‘legitimate' targets because the UK has supported the African country's military intervention in neighbouring Somalia.The Twitter account purporting to belong to the terrorist organisation also said ‘there would be no negotiations whatsoever'.On Sunday night, there were unconfirmed reports that some hostages had been executed after attempts by the military to launch an assault on the roof.Some claimed hostages were ‘shot and thrown out of the window' of the building's fourth floor.Other attackers identified on the Twitter account were from Finland, Kenya, Somalia, Canada and America.Last night, Al Shabaab spokesman Mukhtaar Robow told Channel 4: ‘The English know Somalis will not give up the fight.'Prime Minister David Cameron described the assault as ‘absolutely sickening'.