Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji says that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had information about the September 21st, 2013 terror attack at Westgate Mall in Nairobi.
Haji, however, claims that the country’s intelligence agencies failed to share and act on the information properly to prevent the attack that left more than 70 people dead.
Haji, who was working at NIS during the attack and was inside the shopping mall when four masked attackers began shooting, has revealed this in an interview with the Star newspaper.
He says: “The attack taught me a number of things. The first lesson was that all security agencies must work together. In the Westgate case, we had the intel but it was not shared and acted on properly.”
He says he initially thought the terrorists were targeting him due of his role in counter-terrorism and intelligence gathering in Somalia. Haji says his experience in war-prone areas enabled him to maintain calm during the attack.
He says he was inside the washrooms during the siege and first sent a text message to his father – Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji as well as his younger brother, Abdul Haji – about the attack.
His text message read: “I’m stuck at the Westgate. Seems like a terrorist attack. Pray for me.”
His brother Abdul immediately drove to the mall after receiving the text. Abdul has received acclamation for being one of the heroes on that fateful day after he rescued several people.
“I broke all the traffic rules getting there but I made it,” Abdul Haji said in a past interview.
DPP Haji says he remained inside the gents until after he smelt teargas, which implied that security forces had arrived on scene.
Good. Use the Information to…
Good. Use the Information to Catch the Masterminds of the Mall attack.