BICOM

Several media reports claim that Israeli personnel are involved in trying to resolve the stand-off between Kenyan security forces and Islamist terrorists who seized the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi on Saturday, killing at least fifty nine people.

Reuters quotes an unnamed Israeli security source who said that Israeli advisers are helping Kenyan authorities end the siege, commenting “There are Israeli advisers helping with the negotiating strategy, but no Israelis involved in any imminent storming operation.” The source emphasised that a “handful” of Israelis were on the scene “purely in an advisory role.” However, AFP quotes a Kenyan security source who said that Israeli forces have joined the Kenyan security team at the shopping centre, commenting “The Israelis have just entered and they are rescuing the hostages and the injured.”

The Times reports this morning that Israeli security agencies have long warned that the shopping centre, popular with tourists, could become a terrorist target and that several of its cafes and restaurants are Israeli-owned. The Times of Israel suggests that the centre itself is Israeli-owned. YNet reports that several Israeli citizens were in the shopping centre at the time the terrorists launched their attack, but all appear to have escaped unharmed.

Yesterday, Israel’s President Shimon Peres sent a letter of support to his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, saying “I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the people of Kenya on the horrific terror attack in Nairobi… Terrorism is a global threat and those who perpetrate it make no distinction between young and old, men and women.” Peres said that Israel stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Kenya.

Israeli Mossad agents reportedly helped Kenyan officials investigate whether a fire at Kenya’s international airport last month was a terror attack. In 2002, terrorists blew up an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya and attempted to shoot down an Israeli passenger plane as it left the country.