Nairobi, July 18 (IANS) The Kenyan capital’s Westgate shopping mall, where 67 people were killed in an attack by Al Shabaab militants two years ago, re-opened on Saturday.
About half the shops re-opened after extensive renovation, BBC reported.
Gunmen entered the mall in September 2013 and fired on shoppers, leading to a siege that lasted four days.
Somali Islamist group Al Shabaab said it carried out the attack in response to Kenya’s military operations in Somalia. The four gunmen involved in the shootout were killed.
The re-opening comes a week before US President Barack Obama visits Nairobi – a sign, the city’s governor said, that the capital was safe.
“Exactly 22 months ago we had one of the saddest days in Kenyan history,” governor Evans Kidero said.
“As a nation we cried, we mourned, but Westgate is back.”