Nairobi Mall Victims Brutally Tortured: Reports

The al-Shabab militants who attacked a mall in Nairobi last weekend didn't just kill their victims, they tortured them and mutilated their bodies, according to accounts in Kenya's media rounded up by USA Today. It makes for rough reading. The stories quote doctors and investigators who describe gouged eyes and dismembered bodies hanging from hooks. One doctor says every body suffered some kind of abuse. By the current count, the militants killed at least 67 people, and another 61 remain missing, reports AP.

The missing are presumably still buried in the rubble that resulted when three floors of the mall collapsed during the army's counter-attack. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that the militants were able to launch such a well-armed assault because they had previously rented a shop in the mall and posed as business owners. In the weeks leading up to the attack, they were able to bring in hidden weapons via service elevators and stockpile them in the shop. (More Nairobi stories.)