AS THE 3 DAY STAND OFF WITH TERRORISTS IN KENYA'S WESTGATE MALL COMES TO AN END : Nairobi massacre led by white English widow

 The terror attack on a Kenyan shopping centre that has left 68 dead was led by the white English widow of a 7/7 bomber, security authorities claimed.
Soldiers said a white woman wearing a veil was shouting orders to gunmen in Arabic during the bloody massacre inside the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
It said on Twitter that Samantha Lewthwaite, the “white widow” of London 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was ‘in their ranks’ and a “brave lady.”
A dead white woman said to be Lewthwaite, has been found among Islamic terrorists killed by soldiers as they stormed the mall where 68 shoppers were killed, Kenyan officials said.
The claim, made by three sources to news agency Reuters, will fuel speculation that the dead woman is Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, who is wanted by Kenyan police on a string of terror charges. Police will also investigate the possibility that she is a hostage dressed in one of the terrorist’s clothes.
Asked if it was Lewthwaite, dubbed the “White Widow,” an intelligence officer said: “We don’t know.”
Moments after the news broke, Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda affiliated terror group behind the massacre at Nairobi’s Westgate Shopping Centre, used their Twitter feed to claim that Lewthwaite was safe.
Terrorists set mall ablaze, 3 killed, 10 arrested
Heavy gunfire sent aid workers and journalists scrambling outside Nairobi’s Westgate Shopping Mall on Monday afternoon, more than an hour after a Kenyan government official said security forces had taken full control of the four-story building from terrorists.
It was unclear if any hostage remained inside the building, but authorities expect the number to be “very, very minimal,” if any remain, Interior Minister, Joseph Ole Lenku said at a news briefing.
Most of them had already been evacuated, he said on Monday, the third day of the siege.
The Kenyan Red Cross said that 62 people had died since the Saturday attack by gunmen from the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group.
The agency had previously reported 69 deaths. Some bodies had been counted twice, it said on Twitter.
Dark smoke that rose from the building after Monday’s assault was from fires set by the gunmen to distract forces from the assault, Lenku said.
Terrorists appear to be on the run inside the mall, which Lenku said had been sealed off to prevent their escape.
“We are in charge of the situation, our people are safe,” he said.
Kenyan authorities say they have killed three of the terrorists.
The Interior Ministry told CNN that authorities had arrested “around four” people on suspicion of involvement in the attack. The agency later tweeted that more than 10 were arrested. The arrests were made at the airport, the agency said on Twitter.
Eleven Kenya Defence Forces soldiers have been injured, police said on Twitter.
The country’s Immigration Department said in a tweet that it had increased security at entry and exit points.
Before the assault, terrorists were believed to have about 10 hostages on one level of the mall, security officials said.
An unspecified number of hostages then were freed overnight, the head of the Kenyan police force said.
Kenya deputy president excused from ICC trial
In an unprecedented decision, judges at the International Criminal Court excused Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto from his crimes against humanity trial on Monday for a week so he could return home to help deal with his nation’s mall hostage crisis.
At a hastily arranged hearing, Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji said William Ruto could leave on a morning flight to Kenya. The hearing was quickly halted and Ruto was rushed to the airport.
The hostage crisis that began Saturday at Nairobi’s upscale Westgate Mall has killed dozens of people.
More gunfire erupted Monday at the mall, indicating that the siege was not over even after the military said it rescued “most” of the hostages being held captive by al-Qaida-linked militants.
Ruto is the first such high-ranking politician to go on trial at the court while still in office.
Even before his trial started this month, his defense lawyers had asked judges if he could stay in Kenya for much of the trial to attend to his duties as deputy head of state. Trial judges allowed the move, but prosecutors appealed the decision, saying Ruto should be present.
Prosecutors did not object to his returning home Monday.
As he left the court building, Ruto said the crisis underscored his problems attending the whole trial.
“We hope that some people will begin to contextualize what is going on and begin to appreciate the challenges Kenya is going through, the region is going through and the complications that are brought by what is going on here,” Ruto told reporters.
Ruto is on trial in The Hague charged with crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating violence in the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. He has pleaded not guilty.
Eboe-Osuji expressed the court’s “deepest sympathy to the victims and their families and friends and all of Kenya in this most difficult time.”
Ruto’s lawyer, Karim Khan, told the court his client had to be back in Nairobi to help President Uhuru Kenyatta deal with the terror attack.
“The world would have found it intolerable if the president and vice president of the United States were not in the country after 9/11,” Khan told judges. “Well, this is Kenya’s 9/11.”
Judges adjourned Ruto’s trial for at least a week to cover his absence. Later this year, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also goes on trial in The Hague charged with involvement in postelection violence.
Kenyatta’s lawyers on Monday filed a motion asking judges to excuse the president from attending all but opening and closing statements in his trial and the final judgment.