CNN has obtained chilling footage of the brutal killings at Kenya’s Westgate Mall last month that left at least 67 people dead, showing scenes of gunmen with weapons strapped to their torsos strolling through the mall and chatting on their cell phones while they sprayed bullets at terrified shoppers.
It was the combination of t ruthlessness and nonchalance that is unsettling.
The gunmen at one point even take a break from their slaughter to engage in Islamic prayer, removing their shoes and performing the ritual washing before they bowed down—and then took up the guns and continued shooting when they were done.
The video shows two people with guns shooting as they walked through a supermarket in the mall, firing at anything that moved. As for the victims, there’s a gruesome sequence where a man is crying as he crawls to get away, his body in a pool of blood on the floor—but a gunman returns and shots him again.
The shooters can be seen scanning the ceilings for surveillance cameras while shoppers hid behind cash registers, ran for their lives or cowered on bloody floors, too frightened to move.
Taken on Sept. 21, the first day of the four-day siege, the video has no sound—but clear terror can be read on the faces of the victims.
When it was over, the attack had left at least 67 people dead, many more injured and dozens unaccounted for. The footage seems to corroborate a running commentary by the al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the seige, according to CNN.
At the time of the attack, Kenyan officials said that up to 15 gunmen were involved, but as the operation wound down President Uhuru Kenyatta said five terrorists were killed and 11 suspects were in custody.
But since then, officials have cited various numbers between four and six.
The BBC named a 23-year-old Norwegian citizen of Somali origin as one of the suspects in the attack.
The man, who reportedly arrived in Norway with his family as a refugee in 1999, was identified by the footage released by Kenyan authorities.
