Kenya Survivor 'Smeared Herself In Blood'

A survivor of the Nairobi mall attacks has described how she smeared herself with a victim's blood to play dead and fool the terrorists.

Radio presenter Sneha Kothari Mashru said a teenage boy lying next to her died of his wounds as they hid from the gunmen at the Westgate shopping centre in the Kenyan capital.

"I realised he was shot, because he was bleeding," she said.

"So I pulled out (his) phone slowly and I tried to switch it off, it was all full of blood, and I tried to switch off the phone so that it could stop ringing (in case it alerted the attackers).

"So I took a lot of his blood, (as) much (as) I could and I tried to put it on myself. I put it on my arm, a lot of the teenager's blood, and while I was trying to put it on my hand I just realised that he had stopped breathing at that time.

"So I put it on my arm, as much as I could, and I covered my face with my hair, because my hair was let loose even then, just to pretend that I'm dead or probably badly injured.

"I would still love to know who he is and everything, because his blood probably protected me from getting probably more injured or attacked."

Niall Saville and his wife Moon Hee Kang who died in the attack

Meanwhile, the family of a British man Niall Saville who was injured in the attack have paid tribute to his South Korean wife, Moon Hee Kang, who was killed.

"The Saville and Kang families are devastated and heartbroken by the sudden loss of Moon Hee.

"She was very close to the Saville family and brought so much joy to all of their lives. She and Niall had lived in numerous locations around the world together, but they always had time for both families," the statement said.

"Moon Hee was a bright, loving, kind and genuine person who will be greatly missed."

Terror group al Shabaab has claimed its militants carried out a "meticulous vetting process" to separate Muslims from non-Muslims before killing dozens of men, women and children in the mall.

Witnesses had described how the gunmen rounded up those inside centre before asking them questions about Islam.

In an email exchange with the Associated Press, the al Qaeda-affiliated terror group confirmed its fighters specifically targeted foreigners during the attack.

Security officials enter the mall to search for more evidence

"The Mujahideen carried out a meticulous vetting process at the mall and have taken every possible precaution to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar (disbelievers) before carrying out their attack," the group said.

It added: "Our targets have always been disbelievers, invaders and the apostate governments officials/troops who are allied with them."

The number killed in the attack is expected to rise from the current figure of 67, with speculation there could be additions to the six British dead.

Five terrorists were also killed in the four-day siege at the shopping centre, while 10 suspects remain in custody in relation to the incident.

A British woman reportedly linked to the attacks gained a South African passport using an assumed identity, and the document was cancelled in 2011, Kenya's home affairs minister Naledi Pandor said.

The passport was "fraudulently acquired" Ms Pandor told media, adding that the Kenyan government had not yet contacted the South African government regarding the Westgate attacks.

Former prime minister Tony Blair told Sky News that terrorists are a "cancer" who will only be defeated by better education.

Miraculous tales of survival have emerged since the attack

Speaking outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, the current envoy to the Middle East said Islamist ideology had created an enemy that was "insidious and venomous, but also difficult to beat".

"Unless we are educating people to a tolerant and respectful and open-minded approach to the world, then this cancer of these terrorist groups will continue," he said.

Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud has warned that such attacks may become more frequent as al Shabaab tries to reassert its dwindling power base.

"Some people sometimes mix the issues that Shabaab want an Islamic state in Somalia - that's not true. Shabaab want a unified state all over the world," he told Channel 4 News.

"They do not believe in borders, they do not believe in sovereignty, so their theme is global, it's not even regional. They may do this act again and again."

On Wednesday the group threatened that if Kenyan troops remain in Somalia, they must "be prepared for an abundance of blood".

Experts from countries including the UK, the US and Israel are helping Kenyan authorities with the forensic investigation at the mall. Explosives experts and sniffer dogs are searching for booby traps in the wreckage.

Newly-released pictures show a gaping hole in the mall's roof and mounds of rubble.

The devastation was caused after soldiers fired rocket-propelled grenades and knocked out a support column.

A Kenyan government official said the soldiers fired to distract a sniper so that hostages could be evacuated.

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India: Militants Attack Police And Army Bases

By Neville Lazarus, Sky News Asia Producer

India's prime minister has condemned a "heinous terrorist attack" on a police station and nearby army base in which nine people were reportedly killed.

Militants dressed in army uniform stormed a police station in the Samba region of Jammu, where they shot dead six people and hijacked a truck.

They then drove to a nearby army base where they killed the truck driver and began shooting at soldiers inside the camp, two of whom are thought to have died.

The attack triggered calls for planned talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawz Sharif to be cancelled.

However, Mr Singh suggested the meeting would go ahead as planned.

"This is one more in a series of provocations and barbaric actions by the enemies of the peace," he said.

The attack happened in India's northwestern Jammu district

"We are firmly resolved to combat and defeat the terrorist menace that continues to receive encouragement and reinforcement from across the border.

"Such attacks will not deter us and will not succeed in derailing our efforts to find a resolution to all problems through a process of dialogue."

Mr Singh had been under pressure not to agree to talks while attacks near the India-Pakistan border continue.

India has accused Pakistan of 120 ceasefire violations since the start of the year.

Pakistan denies arming or training militants but says it offers moral support to Kashmir's Muslim population, which it claims faces human rights abuses at the hands of Indian forces.

There has been no meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks in 2008 in which 166 people were killed.

The Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the attack on the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel and other targets.

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Pakistan: Island Rises From The Sea After Quake

Pakistani residents in Gwadar have reacted with shock and awe after a new island arose from the sea following Tuesday's earthquake that killed over 300 people.

The land mass, 5km off the coast, is around the length of a football field and the width of a tennis court, according to geologists.

Scientists who visited the island on Wednesday to collect samples said the rocks were emitting methane gas.

A team of Frontier Corp solders also went to the island and erected a Pakistani flag.

Dead fish were reportedly found floating in the water nearby, and people have been warned to stay away; but many villagers made the voyage regardless and brought back stones as souvenirs. 

A map showing the epicentre of the earthquake

Muhammed Arshad, a hydrographer with the navy, said similar islands appeared after earthquakes of 1999 and 2010, but disappeared in the rainy season.

The rock formations are brought to the surface by gases locked beneath the seabed, which heat and expand during seismic activity.

The large earthquake struck a remote mountainous part of Pakistan on Tuesday, around 60 miles (100km) southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Balochistan province.

The quake centred on the Awaran district – one of the poorest areas in the country – and flattened hundreds of homes.

Children walk through the rubble of a mudhouse after the quake

Officials have said 327 people were killed but reports say the figure could be a lot higher.

The Baluchistan provincial government said at least 552 people were injured in the quake.

The tremort was felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, hundreds of miles to the east, where buildings shook.

In 2005, a 7.6 magnitude quake in Kashmir, in north-eastern Pakistan, killed at least 73,000 people and left several million homeless in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country.

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Costa Concordia: Remains Found Near Liner

Divers have found human remains near the shipwrecked cruise liner which ran aground off the Italian coast in January 2012.

Authorities say DNA tests will tell whether the remains are those of two victims whose bodies were never found.

The search for the last of the 32 dead resumed after the capsized cruise liner was hauled upright last week in a 19-hour salvage operation 20 months after the ship crashed into a reef off Giglio Island on January 13, 2012.

The remains were "absolutely consistent" with the two missing people, an Indian man and an Italian woman, said Franco Gabrielli, the head of the government agency overseeing the vessel's salvage.

Relatives of the two victims - a female Italian passenger and a male Indian waiter - have been notified, Mr Gabrielli said.

Recovering the submerged bodies after 20 months under the weight of the 114,500 tonne vessel was "almost a miracle," he added.

The ship, which had been lying on its side in shallow water ever since capsizing, is due to be towed away from the Mediterranean holiday island, probably by next spring, and eventually broken up for scrap.

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Kenya: Gunman 'Could Still Be Hiding In Mall'

There are fears that one of the gunmen who launched a terror attack on a Kenyan shopping mall could still be hiding inside.

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "There is a distinct possibility that somebody could have survived, one of the gunmen could be in there.

"There have been sources saying that is something under consideration whenever the clearance operation moves further into the building."

Kenya has begun three days of mourning for the victims of the Nairobi attack, as authorities look to retrieve the bodies of victims still trapped inside.

Smoke rises from the Westgate mall in Nairobi

At least 67 people have been confirmed dead in the attack, including 61 civilians and six security officials.

Kenyan authorities say the number of dead may rise further, as bodies are feared to be trapped beneath rubble in the mall after three levels collapsed.

Six Britons - including an eight-year-old girl - are among the dead, and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has warned there may be further British victims.

A Western embassy official said the number of additional dead could reach as high as 100. Morgue workers are preparing to receive further victims.

People queue up to give blood

About 175 people were also wounded when al Shabaab militants stormed the Nairobi mall on Saturday afternoon.

More video shows the rescue of a woman and two children from the mall by a police officer.

Meanwhile a photo taken by Sky's Alex Crawford showed people lining up to give blood.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta announced in a televised address that troops had "shamed and defeated" the militants following a four-day siege.

Kenyan troops stormed the shopping complex

"Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed. These cowards will meet justice as will their accomplices and patrons, wherever they are," Mr Kenyatta said.

Some 11 suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack, and a further five died during the siege at the complex.

A British man arrested at Nairobi airport had no involvement in the attack, it has been confirmed.

"Now it is for the forensic and criminal experts," said police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi.

Explosives experts are searching for booby traps in the wreckage.

Teams of sniffer dogs have been taken into the building to check for explosives and to find bodies.

The attackers marched into the four-storey, part Israeli-owned mall at midday on Saturday, shooting dead shoppers with machine guns and tossing grenades.

Al Shabaab has claimed it carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenya's military intervention in Somalia.

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Kenya Siege Survivors Tell Of Brush With Death

Survivors of the Nairobi shopping centre terrorist attack have spoken of their attempts to hide from the gunmen as they fired indiscriminately at shoppers.

The attack at the Westgate Shopping Mall, which began on Saturday, has so far killed at least 67 people.

Eleven suspects are in custody and five of the attackers - thought to be members of Somalia's al Shabaab group - have been killed, but it is still unclear whether the four-day siege has been ended.

Ben Mulwa had just got out of his car after arriving at the mall for lunch with a friend.

He described running from his vehicle into the mall to escape the shooting when he saw four men armed with automatic weapons.

"There was a security guard who came to seek safety right next to where I was," he told Sky News after returning to hospital.

"He was the first to be shot dead because I remember they shot him right through the head.

"Before I could come to terms with that, that's when I saw the second gunman pointing a gun in my direction. All I remember is I heard a very loud bang.

"I think I almost passed out for a couple of seconds. A bullet grazed over my forehead - how he was able to miss me - and he was only three or four metres away from me - is a miracle somehow."

Kenyan security forces outside the Westgate mall

Mr Mulwa was also hit in the knee, and hid in a flowerbed before he was rescued.

Syed Ibrahim was shot by the gunmen and pleaded for his life, before the terrorists let him go.

He said: "I just told them to leave me alone, I've been injured, so they let me go and said we won't do anything to you because you have been shot already.

"The memory, you can't forget, you usually see it on TV or in movies. You wouldn't expect to see it in reality.

"It's not yet over, let's pray for the best."

Meanwhile, a five-year-old bravely confronted one of the gunman in the mall, telling him: "You're a very bad man, let us leave."

The Sun newspaper reported the little boy stood up to one of the terrorists after he shot his mother Amber in the leg.

The gunman then gave the boy and his six-year-old sister Mars bars, before letting them escape from the mall.

The children's father, Dan Prior, said: "I am very relieved that my family have survived and my thoughts go out to those families that are not as fortunate as my own. 

"My children are traumatised and my wife is very unwell as a result of this senseless atrocity."

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Peru Drugs Pair Plead Guilty To Trafficking

Two women accused of trying to smuggle £1.5m worth of cocaine out of Peru have pleaded guilty.

Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum, both 20, were stopped with 11kg (24lb) of cocaine hidden in food packets in their luggage while trying to board a flight to Spain on August 6.

Reid, from Glasgow, and McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, originally claimed they were forced to carry the drugs by an armed gang which threatened them and their family members.

Their U-turn means they will not have to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Instead, it is likely they will be sentenced to six years and eight months in jail at a hearing which could take place as early as next week.

The two women admitted their guilt at a private hearing in a makeshift courtroom at a men's jail in Lima.

They were heard separately for half an hour each from 11am local time - 5pm in the UK - and asked their names and ages before being given the opportunity to speak.

The pair were arrested at Lima's airport on August 6

The women's lawyer, Meyer Fishman, declined to comment, but a Callao court spokesman in charge of the investigation confirmed the guilty pleas.

"Both women have pleaded guilty to drugs trafficking," said the spokesman.

"It means they automatically benefit from a sixth off the minimum jail sentence of eight years and will be sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.

"Sentencing has not taken place yet and a new hearing where the women will be sentenced has now got to be arranged.

"But it's likely that will take place in around a week's time."

The cocaine was found hidden in food packets in the women's luggage

Reid and McCollum, who had both been working in Ibiza, were facing up to 15 years in prison if they had been found guilty in a trial.

Reid's parents insisted last week they still believed their daughter had been forced to carry the drugs, but a guilty plea was the best course of action to get her back to the UK.

Prosecutors previously indicated that the women could return home to serve their sentences if they pleaded guilty.

Reid was the first to consider changing her plea, maintaining she carried the drugs under duress and telling the Daily Mail: "Pleading guilty is going to enable me to get back to my family in Scotland sooner rather than later.

Melissa Reid said she did not want to be in jail until the age of 35

"I do not want to be in jail until 35 - I can't get back those years."

McCollum confirmed at the weekend that she too had changed her mind about continuing to protest her innocence.

"I understand that the judicial process will be simpler if we both plead guilty," said the 20-year-old.

"We are hoping we will not have to wait too long before we are sentenced and pleading guilty will speed things up."

The pair are currently being held at the notorious Virgen de Fatima prison in the Peruvian capital Lima.

Peruvian police and prosecutors said from the start they did not believe the women had been forced to smuggle the drugs.

Chief prosecutor Juan Mendoza Abarca claimed their stories were "incredible" and that they had been coached in what to say.

He added: "They staged this whole thing from the beginning because they knew it was possible they would get caught and if they did get caught they had the excuses really well planned.

"It's very obvious they were trained in what to say if they were caught. They were prepared in every sense."

A total of 248 "drug mules" were arrested at Lima's Jorge Chavez international airport in 2012, with nearly 1,600kg of illegal drugs confiscated.

The UN says Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's largest grower of coca, the raw material of cocaine.

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Senator's Marathon Speech To Block Obamacare

Republican Ted Cruz has been speaking on the floor of the US Senate for 18 hours so far in an attempt to block funding for President Barack Obama's healthcare bill.

While not technically a filibuster, as he has given way for "questions" - allowing other Republicans to speak as well - he is yet to relinquish control of the floor.

One of the questions is understood to have lasted 45 minutes.

The potential presidential contender from Texas has vowed to speak in the Senate for as long as he can.

"I rise today in opposition to Obamacare," he said, as he took to the floor of a largely empty chamber at 2.41 local time (19.41 EST).

At one point he read out Dr Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, quoted actor Ashton Kutcher as well as lines from a TV show called Duck Dynasty.

The Senator speaking at a town hall meeting in Dallas, Texas, last month

He also brought up children's book, Little Engine That Could, during his argument that the Democratic-controlled Senate is a place where legislation like the Republican bid to defund Obamacare or shut down the government, goes to die.

"That little engine can't," he said, apparently aware of the futility of his efforts.

Last week, the Republican majority in the House Of Representatives approved legislation that would defund the healthcare law as part of a bill to keep the government running past Sept 30.

However, the Democrats have the majority in the upper chamber, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to easily get the 51 votes needed to strip the healthcare provision from the bill.

Senator Cruz's speech is a bid to stop the bill from advancing to that stage, with a vote due at lunchtime in Washington.

He is not the first US politician to recently give a marathon speech in an attempt to impact legislation.

Rand Paul of Kentucky spoke non-stop for almost 13 hours earlier this year to block the appointment of John Brennan - President Obama's pick for CIA director.

Wendy Davis filibustered in the Texas State Senate for 11 hours to block an abortion bill in June.

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Earthquake Measuring 7.8 Hits Rural Pakistan

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 has hit a remote area of south western Pakistan.

The strong quake struck a remote mountainous part of the country at 4.29pm local time (12.29BST) around 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Balochistan province, at a depth of 15 kilometres.

It was felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, hundreds of miles to the east, where buildings shook.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, but many of the buildings in that part of the country are made of weak materials and there were fears a death toll could grow.

The United States Geological Survey issued a red alert for the quake, warning that heavy casualties were likely, based on past data.

Tremors were felt across the province as well as in the sprawling port city of Karachi, residents said. People in Ahmedabad in India, hundreds of miles from the eipcentre, ran out of buildings and into the street.

A senior Pakistani meteorologist, Muhammad Riaz, told Dunya TV station it was a "major" earthquake and "heavy destruction" was likely.

Mumtaz Baluch, senior local administration official in Awaran district, 350 kilometres southwest of Quetta, told AFP: "There are reports of houses being collapsed in the district due to earthquake."

"We also have initial information about injuries to people as a result of the collapse of houses but there are no reports of any deaths."

"We have dispatched our teams to the affected area to ascertain the losses."

People working in offices Karachi rushed out of their building and sat on the footpaths along the roads or stood away from the buildings.

Noor Jabeen, a 28-year woman working for an insurance company said: "My work table jerked a bit and again and I impulsively rushed outside."

"Whenever I feel jolts it reminds me of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir," said Amjad Ali, 45, IT official standing on the road said.

A 7.6 magnitude quake in 2005 centred in Kashmir, killed at least 73,000 people and left several million homeless in one of the worst natural disasters to hit Pakistan.

The epicentre is in a remote, thinly populated mountainous area of Balochistan populated mainly by subsistence farmers.

More follows...

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US 'Concerned' Over Al Shabaab Recruiters

The White House has said it is concerned about attempts by Somalia's al Shabaab to recruit in the US, but has no confirmation that any American citizens were involved in the deadly siege at a shopping mall in Kenya.

The Somali militant group with ties to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the three-day stand-off in Nairobi in which at least 62 people have died.

Kenya Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said "two or three Americans" were involved in the attack, along with one British woman.

Ms Mohamed said the Americans were 18 or 19 years old, of Somali and Arab origin, and lived "in Minnesota and one other place".

"That just goes to underline the global nature of the war that we're fighting," she said.

Her comments have been dismissed by an al Shabaab spokesman who said: "Those who describe the attackers as Americans and British are people who do not know what is going on."

An armoured military vehicle leaves the shopping centre in Nairobi

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the department had "no definitive evidence of the nationalities or identities of the perpetrators at this time".

White House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said US officials had seen "reports coming out of al Shabaab that indicate information along those lines".

"We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about efforts by al Shabaab to recruit Americans or US persons to come to Somalia.

"So this is an issue that has been tracked very closely by the US government and it's one that we'll be looking into in the days ahead."

US Representative from New York, Pete King, said al Shabaab has recruited up to 50 people from Somali-American communities in the US.

Mr King, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an ABC interview on Sunday that between 15 and 20 Somali-Americans remain active in the group.

He said the concern is that some may return and "use their abilities on the US".

Smoke billows from a section of the shopping centre

Meanwhile, as Kenya security forces attempted to bring the deadly three-day siege to a conclusion, President Barack Obama said it was a "terrible outrage" and offered to provide law enforcement support to Kenya.

"I want to express personally my condolences not only to (Kenya's) President Kenyatta, who lost some family members in the attack, but to the Kenyan people," he said.

"We stand with them against this terrible outrage that's occurred."

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Ohio's Somali-American community that the Islamist group presents a threat not just to Africa.

"Today there are clear evidences that Shabaab is not a threat to Somalia and Somali people only," he said in a speech at Ohio State University.

"They are a threat to the continent of Africa, and the world at large."

Mr Mohamud called on people from Somalia who are living in Ohio to consider coming home to help rebuilding efforts.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said al Shabaab is a global threat

Central Ohio has the second-largest number of Somalis in the US after the Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, area.

Members of Minnesota's Somali community have condemned the attack.

Several groups called a news conference in solidarity with the victims and to warn about the dangers of extremism.

One Somali woman in Minnesota, Hodan Hassan, said her 17-year-old and 16-year-old nieces were injured in the attacks.

She said the older one is in critical condition with severe leg injuries, while the other was not as seriously hurt. They are Canadian citizens who moved to Nairobi three years ago.

Ms Hassan said it would be sad if Somali-Americans were responsible but she doubts it is true.

Meanwhile, three alleged members of al Shabaab appeared in New York accused of being part of an "elite suicide unit".

The three had links to al Qaeda operatives in East Africa "who sought to carry out attacks against the United States and Western interests in that region", prosecutors wrote in a letter filed on September 18.

They were captured in Africa allegedly trying to reach Yemen, where they were planning to meet up with al Qaeda operatives.

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