Three Canadians injured, two dead in ongoing attack on Nairobi mall

OTTAWA — The “act of total cowardice, of barbarity” at a shopping mall in Nairobi that killed two Canadians and at least 57 other people also injured three Canadians, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said.

“Three Canadians have been injured. We’re in touch with their families and we’re providing assistance,” he said in an interview on The West Block with Tom Clark.

Alexander couldn’t elaborate on the extent of the injuries, but confirmed that one of the three was the husband of Annemarie Desloges, a 29-year-old diplomat killed in the attack.

“For the others, we’ll have to wait on confirmation,” he said.

Desloges and her husband were shopping at the upscale Westgate Mall when the attack occurred.

“It’s a huge tragedy for us all as Canadians to lose someone from the family, from this family that represents us abroad,” said Alexander, a former diplomat who knows the victim’s father. “She was serving us proudly, actually serving my department … We are all deeply aggrieved.”

Desloges worked with Citizenship and Immigration Canada and served at Canada’s High Commission in Kenya as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency, federal officials said.

View image in full screen

Kenya’s interior Cabinet secretary said early Sunday that along with the 59 people confirmed killed, at least 175 have been wounded.

Joseph Lenku also said that about 1,000 people have been rescued so far from the mall.

In a nationally televised address on Saturday Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta disclosed that his nephew and his nephew’s fiancée were among the victims.

The gunmen remained inside the mall with hostages nearly 24 hours after they launched the attack with grenades and assault rifles.

A Somali militant group called al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack launched Saturday, an assail NDP leader Tom Mulcair described as “an abhorrent terrorist attack.”

“That’s one arm of al-Qaida. There are others,” Mulcair said, asked how the international community can respond to the attack. “You deal with them decisively and you deal with them conclusively. You don’t leave any room for doubt about the resolve in dealing with this type of international terror.”

The immigration minister demanded accountability for the attack, saying Canada “will not rest until we see those responsible for this attack punished.”

“Let us be clear about this act,” Alexander said Sunday. “It is an act of total cowardice, of barbarity by a group that set out to kill civilians who were shopping in a mall.”

Alexander noted Canada has been involved in global efforts against terrorism for more than a decade.

The Royal Canadian Navy, for example, has had ships in the Indian Ocean specifically focussed on threats from Somalia, and Canada has taken part in UN military missions into Somalia to prevent terrorist groups from “running rampant” there, the minister said.

“Yesterday’s attack shows that work needs to continue,” he said. “International cooperation is the only solution. But it has to be focused on punishing and deterring those that would threaten our way of life.”

–With files from The Canadian Press