4 Somalis charged with aiding Westgate Mall attack

[November 04, 2013]  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Authorities in Kenya have charged four Somali nationals with offensives related to September's terrorist attack on Westgate Mall that killed 67 people.

A court ordered the four men -- Mohamed Ahmed Abdi, Liban Abdulla Omar, Hussein Hassan Mustafah, and Aden Abdikadir Ibrahim -- imprisoned until a court hearing next week.

Among the charges were harboring a fugitive and illegally registering as a Kenyan.

Authorities have detained dozens of people in the wake of the four-day mall siege, but had not said any suspects were directly related to the attack. It's unclear how many arrests have been made.

The Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in retaliation for Kenyan troops' deployment in southern Somalia.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.