The Twitter terrorists: How killers boasted of Kenyan mall carnage with live commentary as they murdered dozens of people

• Al Shabaab members gloated as death toll from Nairobi massacre rose
• Twitter tried to shut down its accounts, only for others to spring up fast
• Tweets show how terrorists are adapting to spread fear far and quickly
• Group used hashtag Westgate to attract readers to hate-filled messages

Response: A police officer tries to secure an area inside the Westgate Shopping Centre where gunmen went on a shooting spree in Nairobi, Kenya

Terrorists in Nairobi gave a live commentary on Twitter as they murdered dozens of innocents at Westgate shopping centre.

Members of Al Shabaab gloated as the death toll rose and mocked the Kenyan government forces trying to save hostages.

In a startling new turn in terrorist tactics, they left US-based Twitter flat-footed as the website tried to shut down the terrorist accounts, only for others to spring up within minutes.

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Internet experts said that the tweets show how terrorists are adapting to modern technology to spread fear as far and as quickly as possible.

And they belie the image of the Somalia-based Islamist group as primitive militia holed up in the desert.

The group used the hashtag Westgate to attract as many readers as possible to their hate-filled propaganda.

They wrote: ‘Westgate a 14-hour standoff relayed in 1,400 rounds of bullets and 140 characters of vengeance and still ongoing. Good morning Kenya!’

The extremist cell even began to name the so-called ‘Westgate warriors’ behind the carnage.

Gloats: Members of Al Shabaab gloated as the death toll rose and mocked the Kenyan government forces trying to save hostages

As the violence entered a second night yesterday, the siege played out over Twitter as the group posted the names of their gunmen, claiming they came from London, the US, Finland and Somalia.

They compared Kenyan troops to ‘rabbits caught in the headlights’ and said an attempt to storm the building ‘failed miserably’.

‘The Kenyan government is pleading with our Mujahideen inside the mall for negotiations. There will be no negotiations whatsoever,’ they wrote.

British Twitter consultant Mark Shaw said the ‘extraordinary’ messages give Al Shabaab a ‘global voice, instantly’.

He added: ‘This is the world we live in now. It is instant, it is in real time and people with the smallest amount of technology can do it.

‘All it takes is a mobile phone and access to the internet. They know that they can get their words out far and wide with very little effort.’

A supporter who spoke to the militants, known as Mujahideen (Muslim guerrilla warriors) by mobile tweeted on Saturday that non-Muslims were being targeted.

He referred to non-believers using the derogatory term ‘kuffar’.

‘Only kuffar were singled out for this attack,’ he wrote. ‘All Muslims inside Westgate were escorted out by the Mujahideen before beginning the attack.’

As the siege continued, the account was suspended, only for another to spring up with a similar name.

It revealed: ‘The Mujahideen are still firmly in control of the situation inside Westgate mall. Negotiation is out of the question!’

Al Shabaab has been active on Twitter for years and uses its account to draw attention to its warped cause.

It taunts its enemies and posts messages countering mainstream views of its attacks and ongoing fighting in Somalia.

English-speaking members have posted inflammatory messages, often referring to events in the West.

A few months ago its members even emailed journalists with a new account after it was suspended for breaching Twitter guidelines, which ban threats of violence.

It urged reporters to follow a new account: ‘Follow us for the Mujahideen’s take on events in Somalia as well as events in the global context.’


The threat of an attack by multiple gunmen on a location packed with civilians remains one of the biggest fears of British counter terrorism chiefs.

Senior police officers remain convinced that the ambition of violent Islamists to stage a Mumbai-style atrocity is undiminished.

They have spent millions of pounds bolstering security at the highest profile targets, training marksmen and investing in the best equipment.

But privately many will admit that if determined terrorists manage to obtain automatic weapons the result will be catastrophic. Officials fear dozens could be killed within minutes before armed police could arrive.

Deaths: The 2008 Mumbai outrage stunned the world with 12 co-ordinated 

attacks by Islamic-extremist terrorists. Pictured is gunman Ajmal Kasab

‘There has to be an understanding that in the first hour there will be a lot of challenges, a lot of dead people,’ one senior officer said.

The 2008 Mumbai outrage stunned the world as 12 co-ordinated attacks by Islamic-extremist terrorists on hotels, community centres and streets in India’s largest city left 173 people dead.

Two years later, the threat of a copycat attack on British soil was deemed so severe that the US warned its citizens they were in danger if they travelled here.

Intelligence officials said Al Qaeda-inspired fanatics planned to open fire on crowds at busy sites in London, Paris and Berlin.

The information came from German Al Qaeda member Ahmed Sidiqi, who was under interrogation and said Osama bin Laden personally ordered the attacks. Areas said to be at risk were tourist destinations, hotels, public transport hubs and shopping centres.

Two former SAS commanders have warned that if terrorists did strike, the country would face a ‘slow motion’ September 11.

In 2010, Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb and Colonel Richard Williams said a Mumbai-type plot would ‘outmatch’ the police and turn London into a war zone, with innocents being ‘murdered one by one, floor by floor’ if terrorists got inside a target such as Canary Wharf.

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