Nairobi/New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Two Indian families came in the line of gunfire by Islamist militants in an upscale mall in Nairobi, with two Indians, including an eight year-old boy, among the 59 fatalities.
Four Indians were among the 200 injured in the hail of bullets fired inside the popular Westgate shopping mall Saturday, officials Sunday said.
Those killed were Sridhar Natarajan, 40, from Tamil Nadu and an employee of a local pharmaceutical firm Harley’s Limited; and Paramshu Jain, eight, the son of Manoj Jain, the branch manager of Industrial Area Branch, Bank of Baroda (Kenya Limited), official sources said in New Delhi Sunday.
Natarajan’s wife Manjula Sridhar was injured in the militant attack, while the mother and sister of Paramshu – Mukta Jain, 38, and her daughter Poorvi Jain, 12 – were also injured.
The fourth injured is Natarajan Ramachandran, an employee of Flamingo Duty Free, Nairobi, according to official sources.
Senior officers of the Indian high commission in Nairobi, including High Commissioner Sibabrata Tripathi, were present in the two major medical facilities that received casualties during the day — the Aga Khan University Hospital and M.P. Shah Hospital, the sources added.
The high commission officials are proactively in touch with members of the families of those who died or have been injured to provide all necessary assistance.
They are also in constant touch with Kenyan authorities and leaders of the Indian community in Kenya.
The Indian and Indian-origin community in Kenya totals 70,000.
India has also condemned the heinous and cowardly assault and extended its solidarity to the government and people of Kenya as they bravely continue to deal with the situation, the official sources said.
The Somalia-based militant group Al Shabab has claimed responsibility for the shooting spree in Westgate Shopping Mall.